The Hidden Village of the Forbidden Zodiac
by God of Darkness
Summary: Naruto and Gaara are driven out of their villages. The two meet up, and decide to make their own village. This is their story.(On indefinite hold. See bio for details.)
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I'm not writing this fanfic for purposes of financial profit. Don't sue me because I have no money. Now stop wasting your time on this, and start wasting your time reading the fic.  
  
Prologue: Driven  
  
Pain. That one word pretty much summed up his whole world at the moment. The fact that he was running for all he was worth didn't help much either. Only his nearly freakish supply of stamina kept him from falling down dead, as well as out of the hands of his pursuers, who had murderous intent. As he darted around a tree trunk he briefly wondered if the knowledge of WHY he was being chased would make him feel any better.  
The jolt of pain that shot up his leg as he put his right foot down drove any wondering from his mind as his nearly broken ankle came into contact with the ground to propel him forward just one more step.  
As he darted around another tree trunk a kunai embedded itself into the trunk, missing his head by a mere fraction of an inch. He thanked whatever god was watching for the fact that those that pursued him didn't seem to be above the level of chounin. Since he was nearly a chounin himself, he could hopefully stay out of their hands until he reached the river.  
After a moment of running, he saw two tree trunks ahead, placed close enough together that he could fit through them, but his pursuers could not. With hope to gain a little more ground, he put on a burst of speed and shot through the trunks, thankful for the sounds of muffled cursing a second later.  
He put on another burst of speed to get as much distance between himself and those following as possible, and for a moment, he almost hoped he would make it to the river.  
Then everything went wrong.  
A kunai suddenly flew out of the darkness ahead of him and shot for his forehead, colliding with his forehead protector and arching his head back, exposing his neck. He caught a flicker of motion in front of him as the other ninja drew back his fist with the clear intent to bury it in his neck, ending his life instantly.  
But not for nothing was he nearly a chounin.  
He thrust both legs into the ground and leapt to the left just as his attacker launched their attack. For a moment he thought he had cleared the fist, then it buried itself in his ribcage and he felt two ribs give way, the rest nearly following.  
He was hurled through the air, spinning a bit from the impact, before hitting the ground. Before the pain even registered, he had forced his body back up and jumped for the tree trunk. As he hit the trunk feet first and started to run up it, he formed a seal with his hands, gathering the needed chakra while keeping the chakra focused in his feet as well.  
There was a blur up the trunk as the ninja he expected to be a jounin landed and leapt toward him. But before the jounin could reach him, there was a puff of smoke and three doppelgangers appeared who immediately attacked the jounin.  
While the jounin took three seconds to dispatch the doppelgangers, his prey slipped to the side and sped up the trunk into the canopy above.  
As he entered the canopy of the tree, he heard something that brought his spirits up greatly: the sound of a lot of running water. He was nearly to the river.  
His hopes were then dashed as he heard a whistling in the air and he ducked as a barrage of kunai and shuriken shot through the canopy. The shuriken arched back around and of the five, two struck him, one in his left side, below the waist, the other in his thigh.  
The jounin drew another kunai to throw now that his target was stationary.  
Seeing what the jounin was about to do, He threw himself forward, feeling the thrown kunai dig a path on his back from his right hip up past his left shoulder.  
With a heave of his legs, he propelled himself out of the tree for the next one, knowing that as he did so, the jounin would meet him mid jump and kill him.  
However, as he reached the last leaves of the canopy, the entire thing exploded, and the explosion propelled him well beyond his intended landing point, a branch on a neighboring tree.  
As he flew through the air he realized that whoever it was that had attacked him now couldn't give immediate chase. He silently thanked whoever had made the mistake of using whatever jutsu it was since it had given him a bit of time. He reoriented himself for landing as he started his decent toward another tree and noticed that he would land in this one on the side much closer to the river. Again he gave thanks, but stopped when he landed and noticed the three kunai already buried in the trunk, each with a very powerful explosive tag attached.  
He was able to summon some chakra and throw it before him in a shield before the tags went off. This time, he was caught much closer to the center of the explosion, and despite his shield, he felt the flames eat away at his skin before the shockwave hit.  
As he was propelled out of the bonfire of a tree, his skin now badly burned as well as bruised, he realized that the last attack had shot him over the river, and he would land right in the middle of it.  
He landed in the river with a rather large splash, and as the blessedly cool water enveloped him, he saw darkness start to cover his vision. He fought the darkness as he floated to the surface until he felt his back break the surface. He had just enough energy and presence of mind left to turn over so that he could breath before he passed out, feeling rather safe now that he was in the river, whose swift current had already carried him quite a bit down stream.  
  
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Gai studied the group of people below him with unhidden disdain. They were all chounins and genins and Gai briefly considered making his presence known and giving them all one hell of a tongue-lashing, but finally decided on a different plan, one far more humiliating and damaging.  
He'd give the Hokage the name of every person down there, then he'd spread the word that a group of twenty genins and chounins were outsmarted by an injured 'dead-last'.  
Most of them would never live it down.  
Gai turned his thoughts to the one that they had been chasing.  
Damn, that boy was good.  
After the mob had beat on him quite a bit, he still managed to get back his headband and escape. He had then lead them for a merry little romp in the woods, creating several diversions on the way. Gai was truly impressed in the skill that the boy had shown.  
Before flickering out of view, Gai turned to study the river, which had carried the boy well out of sight.  
(Naruto, I give you your life. Use it well.)  
  
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A hundred miles distant:  
  
He dived behind a rock a second before the rain of kunai's reached him. As the kunai's bounced off the rock he made several hand seals and gathered chakra. As he made the last seal he heard the ninja's from behind approaching.  
He was up and moving forward instantly, the ninja's in hot pursuit. Fortunately, they weren't skilled enough to sense the spell he had just used, so they weren't prepared for the attack that fell on them from behind.  
He felt a sense of grim satisfaction when he heard their screams of surprise followed by screams of pain. His sand clones bought him precious seconds.  
But that was all. His face remained impassive, but there was a sinking sensation in his gut as he felt his sand clones torn apart by obviously more superior ninja's than the weakling's he had been dealing with so far.  
Things had just grown more complicated.  
It took every bit of skill and cunning that he possessed, but he was able to stay out of the pursuing nins hands. He didn't know how long he ran, or how many he eventually killed as they caught up to him one at a time, but he knew that for every ninja that he killed, three took the unfortunate ninjas place pursuing him.  
He also knew that to be caught was death. True he was incredibly powerful, but he couldn't take them all.  
As he ran he performed several more seals, creating nearly two-dozen sand clones which immediately attacked the following ninjas. Screams soon filled the air as he kept running.  
He came to a hill, and slid down it. He noticed a canyon not quite a hundred feet from the base of the hill. If he remembered correctly, that canyon was nearly two hundred feet deep, made by a river that still flowed. The canyon was rather wide, nearly fifty feet across.  
It'd be a bit of a stretch, but he could make it.  
He hit the base of the hill and was running for the canyon when they caught up.  
He dove to the side to avoid a shuriken half his size and rolled back to his feet. He looked up at the hill he had just slid down and saw a group of twenty or so jounins. They were all glaring down at him.  
He expected them to attack instantly, but instead, they parted, revealing the man who had put this whole plan together. The man was dressed as he always was, in the traditional robes of the village's leader. And in his left hand was a very familiar gourd.  
He growled in the back of his throat in anger.  
"You've led a merry chase, and killed quite a few Shinobi. Now it's time to collect. And just as a reminder of how powerless you are toward us..."  
And the Kazekage threw the gourd in his hand down the hill so that it landed at his feet.  
He looked down at it for a moment, but then kicked it away. The magic that had been in the gourd was gone, courtesy of the Kazekage's seal. His 'mother' was now truly dead. And he would make them pay.  
As the gourd bounced off the ground, the ninja's struck, leaping off the hill and falling toward him.  
His hands blurred as he made several seals, casting a spell he had used more often tonight than he had in the past three months combined.  
All around him sand suddenly came to life, shooting up from the ground to form sand-like copies of him. There were forty or so in total, and they immediately jumped and attacked the ninja's, buying him time for the second spell.  
He leapt back, more toward the canyon, and started to make the seals for the spell. As he finished the last seal, the battling ninja's and sand clones landed on the ground, both sides with members that didn't stand. The sand clones crumbled to sand, while the dead shinobi's simply laid there, eyes unfocused.  
At His mental command all the sand clones immediately went into their sand state, allowing him to cast his spell without hitting any of them.  
"Mugen Sajin Daitoppa."  
He opened his mouth wide and a torrent of sand poured forth, smashing into the ninja's like a brick wall and sweeping them all back. He gathered as much chakra as he could and performed a set of familiar seals.  
Instantly, another hundred sand clones rose from the sand that had just issued from his mouth, and attacked the stunned shinobi. These sand clones were much more powerful than the ones created so far, and most of the shinobi died before they knew what was happening. Those that didn't die immediately would've almost certainly died soon after if not for the Kazekage.  
He felt a rather large buildup of chakra, greater than the one he had just done, and another hundred sand clones rose up, in the image of the Kazekage. The new sand clones attacked the old and cut them down in a few moments.  
He was already running for the canyon gathering chakra into his feet and legs. He was nearly ten feet from the canyon when he felt another buildup of chakra and the ground beneath his feet exploded upward, carrying him along with it.  
After carrying him nearly a hundred feet upward, the spell had run its course, and he began his decent. He noticed that the spell had placed him over the canyon and that he would fall into it, with no chance of grabbing either canyon wall.  
Which meant he had a three hundred foot fall before him. Even he'd be lucky to survive, and luck hadn't been with him tonight.  
As his decent started, he glared at the Kazekage. As there wasn't much else he could do, he was still glaring at the man as the fell into the canyon and out of sight.  
The Kazekage couldn't help the shudders that ran up his spine at the young man's look as he had disappeared into the canyon.  
The Kazekage picked four of the remaining jounin.  
"You four, go down there and make sure he'd dead."  
The four jounin paled a little.  
"And if he isn't?"  
It was plain that the jounin was hoping that he'd be able to simply let the boy alone. No such luck.  
"If Gaara's still alive, then kill him. Do not return without proof of his death."  
The four jounin had paled a little more, but nodded and vanished in puffs of smoke.  
The jounin remaining didn't envy them.  
  
Author's notes: So what do you think? Please review. I'll have the next chapter up as soon as I can. 


	2. A New Start, A New Friendship

Chapter 1: A new start, a new friendship.  
  
Naruto awoke slowly, for once wanting to stay asleep. His sleep- fogged brain was a bit confused at that desire, until the events of two weeks ago were remembered.  
As the memories came crashing down upon him he sat bolt upright, his sore body protesting mightily, and quickly scanned his surroundings.  
The leaves that he had used to cover himself last night fell away, revealing his now more brown than orange tattered jumpsuit. He leapt to his feet after looking around, and was moving before the leaves had finished settling to the ground.  
He leapt up to the trees and grabbed a rather large branch with his hands. He pulled himself up, and crouched low on the branch, once again looking around.  
After a few seconds had passed with no attack, he tightened the muscles in his legs, and launched himself for another branch. He hit the top of it hands first, and brought his legs up to place them directly underneath him. Before his forward momentum had died, he propelled himself through the air toward another branch again.  
This method of transport continued for several more hours. He would have gone on for longer had his stomach not been complaining loudly about missing breakfast. As it was, he could either stop and hunt for food, or have his stomach scream out his position for every Hunter-nin in the entire forest.  
Naruto chose the former.  
It just so happened that he decided to stop and eat as he practically landed on a bird nest, complete with over a dozen eggs, and two rather large, tasty looking birds.  
The poor fowl didn't know what the blur of orange, brown, and yellow meant.  
Soon a small clearing nearby was filled with the sound of a fire, and the smell of cooking bird and eggs.  
Naruto was looking at the food that was cooking absently, making sure it didn't burn. He would've preferred ramen, but that was impossible out here in the wilderness.  
Perhaps Naruto should've been more attentive to his surroundings, or he would've noticed that he was no longer alone.  
Snap!  
Naruto's head snapped up and he looked around him. A few seconds passed in silence while Naruto had an increasing sinking feeling in his gut. He stood up and pulled out a Kunai and a shuriken.  
"Who's there?!"  
Mocking laughter was the only answer to Naruto's shout of inquiry.  
Naruto turned toward the source of the laughter and hurled the shuriken. It spun into the canopy of a tree and the laughter suddenly cut off as the person who was laughing screamed. A moment later, they fell, and Naruto saw that he had hit them in the thigh.  
A sudden crashing noise behind him caused Naruto to turn around and see three people rush him. The formation of the three was two in front, the last following closely behind. The man on the left had two short swords, while the man on the right had a short sickle and chain. The man in the back had a rather nasty looking spear. Naruto guessed that their attack pattern was designed so that the first two attackers would tie up the victims arms while the last attacker would reach over the other two and kill the victim with his spear.  
Naruto formed a seal with his hands and two doppelgangers appeared. They leapt and intercepted the first two. The third attacker didn't notice that the formation had been broken, and made a stab at Naruto. He was clearly astounded when he saw Naruto easily turn the spear aside with an un- occupied arm.  
The man, who Naruto now noticed was covered in even more dirt that he was, had long black hair and a thick beard. Neither the hair nor the beard hid the wounds that were on his face. They looked like they had been caused by a kunai a day or two ago. Naruto decided to add his own slash mark to the mans face.  
The man started to back away, bringing his spear around as he did so. Naruto ducked under the weapon, then lunged. The man tried to sidestep the attack, but only managed to get Naruto to slash the man's shoulder instead of his face. The man screamed and backed away, dropping his spear.  
There were footsteps from immediately behind Naruto so he ducked down, forming a ball. Predictably, the man trying to attack Naruto's back didn't stop and tripped over him. Naruto stood with as much force as he could when the man was halfway through his fall. The result was the man ended up flying through the air, and landing on his face a good ten feet away. Naruto ordered his doppelgangers back.  
Naruto faced the men as they gathered themselves, his doppelgangers on either side of him.  
After a moment of studying each other, the two sides leapt to attack. An attack that was abruptly cut off when another figure emerged from the trees.  
Naruto and his doppelgangers leapt back to gain room to maneuver. The four attackers, however, merely stood there, looking at the new comer with something that could only be called pure terror. Naruto perfectly understood.  
(Damn it! Why does HE have to show up now?! I haven't even had any food yet!)  
The newcomer surveyed the scene before him with a look of cool indifference. He took a few steps into the clearing and the attackers took a few steps back. A few more steps forward, and a few steps in retreat.  
The newcomer suddenly turned and glared at them. They gave a single, unified scream, and fled.  
The newcomer finally turned his attention to Naruto, who still had two doppelgangers ready to fight.  
Gaara raised his free hand in a gesture of peace, and spoke.  
"I'm not here to fight. I actually came to see if I could use your fire."  
The request caught Naruto off guard to the point where the doppelgangers vanished in a puff of smoke.  
Naruto recovered from his shock, and studied Gaara.  
The other boy was nearly as battered in appearance as Naruto was, with rips in his clothes, which were also covered in liberal amounts of mud, with the occasional splatter of dried blood. Gaara had a few rabbits thrown over one shoulder, along with several fish. Naruto noticed that something was missing from Gaara's appearance, something major that should've been noticed at once.  
But Naruto was tired and hungry, so he simply shrugged, and nodded his ascent.  
Gaara walked over to the fire, which was large enough to cook both Naruto's food, and his own, and kneeled. He pulled out a kunai and set about skinning and cleaning the rabbits and fish.  
Naruto walked back over to the fire, and he passed behind Gaara as he did so. It was only because Naruto was keeping one wary eye on Gaara that he noticed how the other boy stiffened slightly, but still tried to appear casual. And then Naruto noticed what was missing from Gaara's appearance.  
"Your gourd is gone!"  
Gaara turned around and glared at Naruto so fast that he blurred. Naruto brought up his hands in a placating gesture as Gaara spoke, his voice filled with anger.  
"What of it!?"  
"Nothing, nothing! Sorry!"  
But Gaara seemed to be getting angrier, looking at Naruto with fury blazing in his eyes.  
Before Naruto could speak again to try and calm Gaara down, Gaara's hands blurred and he gathered chakra. The sand around him suddenly came to life.  
Naruto jumped back, forming his own seals and gathering chakra. Doppelgangers suddenly appeared around him, and they leapt forward to attack Gaara's sand clones. As Naruto landed, he drew two kunai, one for each hand, then prepared himself for battle.  
He crouched down, tightening the muscles in his legs, then propelled himself into the air, over the battle of doppelgangers and sand clones. He started to descend toward Gaara, who leapt away and began performing seals.  
As Naruto landed he crouched again, then propelled himself toward Gaara headfirst, hands drawn back to slash at the other boy. Gaara stopped forming seals, his spell incomplete, and once again leaped away. A suspicion began to form in Naruto's mind as he once again leapt after Gaara.  
Gaara once again formed seals, but this time he was able to complete the spell, as it was much shorter. Two sand clones rose in front of him, and they intercepted the surprised Naruto, who did his best to back away and defend himself from the clones.  
Gaara began another series of seals, his eyes fixed on Naruto who now was thoroughly distracted by the sand clones.  
Naruto parried one blow from a sand clone and realized the other had disappeared. He felt the sand just beneath him shift ever so slightly and he knew that the clone was now behind him in its sand state.  
Naruto blocked another strike from the clone in front of him, and drew back his free hand with the intent to thrust it behind him, hopefully stabbing the other clone as it reformed. However, at that point he felt a rather large buildup of chakra, and looked over to its source to see Gaara inhaling.  
Naruto instantly gathered as much chakra into his feet as he could, crouched, then propelled himself into the air.  
He barely missed the effect of Gaara's spell, the torrent of sand from the Mugen Sajin Daitoppa scraping his toes. As Naruto reached the peak of his jump he noticed that Gaara was focused on the area decimated by the sand blast, and not paying attention to the area above him. Naruto grinned as he began his decent.  
Gaara was indeed intent on the area that the sand blast had just torn apart, believing that Naruto had been caught in the blast. It didn't occur to him that Naruto may have been able to escape the blast at the last second. As it was, it was pure chance that Gaara looked up.  
His eyes widened in surprise as he saw Naruto barreling down on him with his kunai handles pointed at key points on Gaara's neck. Gaara leapt back but Naruto still managed to hit him in the chest, driving the air from Gaara's lungs. Gaara choked, but still managed to jump up for the tree branches directly above him, Naruto in hot pursuit.  
Gaara grabbed the branch and stopped to catch his breath. He was only able to drag in one ragged breath when Naruto caught up. Naruto, kunai clamped in his teeth, hit the branch hands first. He used the chakra he had gathered into his palms to stick to the tree, and he swung himself up, planting both feet into Gaara's back, sending Gaara airborne. Naruto crouched on the branch, and launched himself after Gaara.  
Gaara managed to block the first punch, but the second got through and connected with his right bicep. Gaara reeled for a moment as his world tilted, and then he saw Naruto aiming a kick at his face. Gaara brought his forearm up and blocked the strike but was unprepared for Naruto's downward punch to his face.  
Gaara's body arched backwards leaving his stomach exposed to Naruto's spin kick, which propelled Gaara toward the ground. As Gaara crashed into the ground, he lie still for a moment, then leapt back to his feet as Naruto landed right in front of him and threw a punch. Gaara ducked sideways and the punch sailed harmlessly passed. Then Gaara attacked for the first time.  
Naruto wasn't surprised when Gaara threw a punch since he had been waiting for the attack. Naruto retreated, and Gaara pressed his seeming advantage. But for all his speed and power, he couldn't touch the other boy who was dodging.  
Naruto studied Gaara's punches and realized that his theory was correct.  
Putting his theory to the ultimate test, Naruto didn't dodge to the side of the next punch, but reached out and grabbed Gaara's forearm, and dragged the other boy forward, kneeing him in the gut. Gaara was thrown off balance, and Naruto was able to spin him around and put him in a chokehold.  
Here was the test. If Gaara could break this, then Naruto was wrong. If Gaara couldn't break it, Naruto was right.  
After nearly a minute of Gaara trying to break the hold, Naruto realized that he was right.  
"Calm down Gaara, I don't want to have to hurt you."  
Gaara's response was to struggle harder. His right elbow managed a semblance of movement and smacked rather hard into Naruto's ribs.  
Naruto gasped in pain and nearly doubled over but caught himself. He tightened his grip on the other boy and spoke again.  
"Okay, now you're just pissing me off. I've beaten you once Gaara, and I'll be happy to do it again if you don't calm down."  
To articulate his words, Naruto gathered a little chakra into his arms and tightened his grip even more. Gaara finally stopped struggling and calmed down. Naruto released him but kept his guard up in case of an attack.  
No attack came. Gaara merely walked back to the fire after banishing his sand clones and resumed his cleaning of the rabbits and fish.  
Naruto studied him for a moment, and then looked around. The clearing was quite a bit larger than before. Gaara's sand blast had torn several trees up and deposited them forty feet away, and the fight between the sand clones and Naruto's doppelgangers had felled a few trees as well. Thankfully the fire was untouched.  
Naruto stopped supplying chakra to his doppelgangers and they disappeared. He then walked over to the fire to finish cooking his meal.  
As Naruto flopped down he studied Gaara out of the corner of his eye. The other boy looked somehow smaller than Naruto remembered him. Smaller not only physically, but spiritually as well. Naruto remembered Gaara's odd habit of calling the gourd 'mother'.  
Gaara could feel Naruto's eyes on him. He fully expected the other boy to speak up and ask him why his gourd was gone. However, Naruto surprised him by merely continuing to look at him for a moment, then turning back to the fire and the meat roasting on it. Even with Gaara's miniscule social skills, he could tell that Naruto was greatly troubled, nearly as troubled as Gaara. Gaara also knew that they would have to talk soon or end up fighting again. And Gaara didn't need to waste his energy fighting with Naruto.  
Gaara finished preparing his meal and placed it over the fire to cook. Naruto's food was soon done, and he settled down to eat the bird and eggs, while Gaara waited for his own food to cook. After a little while, Gaara took the food off the fire and began to eat. Suddenly finding that he was ravenous, Gaara finished his meal almost as fast as Naruto.  
Naruto watched as Gaara dropped the last rabbit bone stripped of meat. Before Gaara could stand or do anything, Naruto spoke.  
"You don't know much about taijutsu, do you?"  
Gaara stiffened and glared at Naruto, but didn't attack. After a moment, he shook his head to the negative.  
"Thought not."  
"How could you tell?"  
"You were too clumsy."  
At Gaara's inquisitive look Naruto elaborated.  
"You kept trying to keep me at a distance, so I figured there had to be a reason. When I finally got close to you, I got really suspicious of how easily I was knocking you around. When you threw that first punch, I was watching for it. That's why I suddenly backed off. I wanted to be sure. When I saw that every punch you threw was just as clumsy and awkward as the first, I knew. Once I got you in that hold, I was certain. You may have strength and speed to spare, Gaara, but your skill and experience with taijutsu is abysmal. I'd say you've never used it."  
"I never had to. No one could get close enough to attack me. Those that did, I was fast enough to move away from before they hit me. I was taught the basics, but no more. I saw no reason. Most people never lived long enough to attack me, and those that did never connected. I haven't practiced taijutsu in years. But now, it's revealed to me just how helpless I am without it, and how much I relied on mother."  
Naruto noticed Gaara's odd mention to his gourd, and made a mental note to one day ask the other boy about it. Instead, Naruto asked Gaara something else, but he felt that it was still a sensitive subject.  
"Gaara, what are you doing out here?"  
Gaara looked into the dancing flames. After a moment he spoke.  
"I was run out of my village."  
"Why?"  
Gaara didn't answer. Naruto sighed, and stood.  
He kicked dirt onto the fire and prepared to leave.  
"Because I had failed."  
Naruto stopped and looked over his shoulder at Gaara. The other boy simply sat there with a slump to his shoulders.  
"How about a deal?"  
Gaara looked up in surprise.  
"I'll help you master taijutsu. In return, I want you to tell me how you channel the Sabaku's chakra."  
Gaara's eyes narrowed.  
"Why do you want to know how I do that? Looking for another weakness?"  
"No. I've got my own...unique chakra, but I don't know how to properly use it."  
Gaara looked at Naruto with suspicion, but finally nodded.  
"Very well. I'll teach you how to channel a demon's power, in return, you teach me taijutsu."  
Naruto nodded. He then beckoned Gaara to follow him.  
"We'd best leave. We've been sitting in one spot too long, and with that ruckus we caused we'll have drawn every nin-hunter in the area. We should've left earlier, but I was too damn hungry."  
Without any more words, Naruto and Gaara leapt for the treetops. Soon they were gone, the only testament to their presence the smoldering ashes of the fire, and the devastated clearing.  
  
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The Hidden Leaf Village Of Kohana was in an uproar. It had been ever since Naruto had been driven out and escaped two weeks ago. The general populace was greatly relieved to finally be rid of the kitsune brat. The ninja's who were able to know confidential information were less than comforted. The knowledge of what might happen if members of the Akatsuki captured Naruto was chilling. The last time the nine tailed demon fox was free, it had taken several hundred lives to stall it, and the hokage's life to stop it. And this time there would be no fourth Hokage to die for the village.  
In the shinobi headquarters, things were definitely tense. Especially around a jounin shinobi dressed in a green body suit with an unzipped vest. His black hair looked as it always did, helmet-ish and scruffy. At the moment, this shinobi was walking down a hallway.  
"I never got a chance to thank you."  
Gai stopped and his head snapped over to the pillar he had just passed. Kakashi emerged from the shadows, his hands in his pockets. Gai nodded, and continued walking, Kakashi walking along side him.  
"For what?"  
"Saving Naruto. If not for your help, he would have died."  
Gai studied Kakashi out of the corner of his eye. Something about the others demeanor stopped Gai from acting as he normally would.  
"What makes you think I saved him?"  
Kakashi snorted.  
"I didn't arrive in time to save Naruto, but I arrived soon enough to see your actions. As well as those of the other jounin."  
Gai studied Kakashi out of the corner of his eye. After a moment, he looked forward again.  
"I was too worried about getting Naruto safe while making it look like I was attacking him, so I wasn't able to identify the other jounin. I'm sorry. Any idea why they decided to drive him out?"  
"Something about blaming him for Sasuke going over to Orochimaru."  
Gai's mouth fell open and he stared at Kakashi with undisguised shock.  
"What do you expect? They've blamed the boy for everything bad that's happened for years. I heard they also blamed him for Itachi going wrong."  
"They still think Naruto was the cause of Sasuke joining Orochimaru, even after Naruto was the one to bring him back?!"  
Kakashi nodded.  
"That mob was just waiting to happen. All it took was for one person to have a little bit too much to drink, and it got out of hand. The city is just boiling with resentment and un-ease. They found an outlet in Naruto."  
Gai nodded.  
"Poor kid."  
Kakashi didn't immediately respond to Gai's comment. But after a moment, he spoke.  
"I sometimes wonder if I should've been more helpful to Naruto. I more or less ignored him, you know? After a while, I concentrated on training Sasuke, and totally ignored Naruto and Sakura."  
Gai nodded.  
"We all do that. It was the same with Lee and me. I simply saw myself in Lee. A determined kid, out to prove that he could be just as good as a genius. Just like me."  
"And Sasuke is a lot like me at that age. Anyway, just out of curiosity, why did you give Hokage-sama the names of the chounins and genins involved in the mob after Naruto?"  
Gai shrugged.  
"I did it as a punishment. Hokage-sama tore into them all, and everyone else will now look down on them for losing to the 'dead-last'."  
Kakashi's visible eyebrow rose and he idly scratched at the left side of his nose through his mask. Gai saw Kakashi's look and grinned at him. There was a slight sparkle to his teeth as Gai started to act a little more like himself.  
"Oh come on. Even you should be able to see that despite how well Naruto did in the chounin exam, most people still regard him as the weak and worthless dead last. However, I can see how you, the second best Shinobi, wouldn't be able to see it!"  
Kakashi lightly smacked Gai upside the head, but he silently agreed with the other jounin. Naruto, it seemed, was cursed to never rise in the opinion of the people of Kohona.  
Coming out of his reverie, Kakashi checked his watch.  
"Hmm...Gai, there's a half hour left before the time for hospital visitors is gone. Want to come with me to check on Sasuke? I'll buy you dinner afterward."  
Gai seemed to think for a moment, then nodded.  
"Sure. But we're eating at the Nek-hano's."  
Kakashi groaned. Leave it to Gai to bum a meal off of Kakashi at the most expensive restaurant the village had. Oh well. At least the food would be good.  
  
-------------------------------------- ---  
  
He returned to awareness rather quickly. He soon wished that he hadn't. He hurt like hell. Especially his left shoulder. It felt hot enough to cook something.  
He slowly opened his eyes, narrowing them to slits against the glare. He looked around the room and wondered (Why in the hell is everything white?)  
He slowly moved his fingers and toes. Finding that they all worked, he moved his arms and legs. His body complained at the movement, especially his shoulder, but he found that the pain was bearable, and that if he had too he could fight.  
(Uhn...What did Orochimaru do to me?)  
The door opened, cutting off his line of thought, and he opened his eyes to see a female med-nin wearing the leaf head protector walk into the room. She let the door close, then noticed that he was watching her. She returned his cool look with one filled to the brim with disdain and contempt. He was more surprised than he liked to admit. Usually these people looked at him with nothing but respect and admiration. He closed his eyes and let his head fall deeper into the pillow. He'd figure out what was going on later.  
But he would be finding out what was going on now, whether he wanted to know or not.  
The door opened again, and his eyes snapped open because the med-nin was nowhere near the door. When he saw the person entering the room, he very nearly paled. Not that you would've noticed, since he was extremely pale already.  
Tsunade walked into the room, looking every bit the Hokage, cool, calm, and regal. And she also looked ready to cast a death sentence. Without asking, she chose a chair at the right side of Sasuke's bed, and sat down, studying him as if she was looking at a rabid but weak wolf, curable, but better put out of its misery.  
Tsunade waited for the med-nin to finish what she was doing and leave before speaking.  
"Sasuke, do you know what the penalty for what you have done is?"  
Sasuke raised his head and threw a glare at her. Its effect was totally lost when his head suddenly fell back into the pillow, his neck muscles to weak to support the action of raising his head for long. Not that it would've had any effect on Tsunade anyway...  
"Banishment from Kohona, then a slow death by torture. We will have no traitors in this village, and anyone who even thinks of joining Orochimaru is considered a traitor."  
Sasuke looked at her with a small amount of anger on his face.  
"Even if you join him for the reason of eliminating another traitor to Kohona Village?"  
"Hmph. Don't be stupid boy. Orochimaru wouldn't have helped you beat Itachi. There are only a select few who have the potential to even give that man a decent challenge. And you aren't one of them."  
Sasuke's cool mask completely cracked at the last statement, and his anger showed through clearly. He idly noticed that his left shoulder was burning much more painfully now, but he ignored it.  
"I WILL kill my brother! Not you, not anyone else will stop me! I'll do ANYTHING to kill him!"  
"Then why did you go with Orochimaru?"  
Sasuke turned his head in surprise at Kakashi's voice, then instantly wished he hadn't, closing his eyes tightly as dizziness and pain from the sudden action welled up. As the effects of the sudden movement faded, so did his anger, and the pain in his left shoulder faded as well. Sasuke opened his eyes and studied Kakashi in inquiry, noticing Gai standing to Kakashi's left.  
"Orochimaru didn't want to train you. He wanted something from you, and in the process of acquiring it, he would've killed you."  
"Oh, and what did he want from me?"  
Sasuke gritted his teeth in anger, closing his eyes. He felt his left shoulder give a twitch of pain, and finally took notice of it. But he shoved it to the back of his mind when he felt Kakashi lightly tap his eyelids.  
"These. The only use you were to Orochimaru was for your Sharigan eyes."  
Sasuke slowly opened his eyes, and looked at the three adults around the room. Tsunade spoke next.  
"Orochimaru made an oath long ago to master every jutsu in existence. Toward this end, he created a jutsu all his own that allows his spirit to posses another's body, thus granting him immortality. All he wanted was your body Sasuke, to posses it, and take its Bloodline limit. That process would've destroyed your own spirit, killing you. I ask you this: How can you kill Itachi if you kill yourself by going with Orochimaru?"  
Throughout Tsunade's little speech, Kakashi watched his student's eyes, and was relieved to see the realization growing within them. Once Tsunade finished speaking, Sasuke stared up at the ceiling blankly for a moment before speaking.  
"Who do I have to thank for bringing me back?"  
Kakashi, Gai, and Tsunade each felt a mix of relief, and trepidation. They all hesitated, glancing at each other to see who would tell Sasuke. Finally, Tsunade spoke.  
"You were rescued by Naruto, as well as a few other Chounin."  
Sasuke closed his eyes. (Of course. Naruto. Only the 'dead-last' could do something like that.) His eyes opened, and he looked at Kakashi.  
"Sensei, could you tell that idiot that I would like to see him?"  
Gai and Tsunade looked at Kakashi for the barest moment, and he gave a tiny shake of his head. Sasuke and Naruto were members of Kakashi's team. Handling all the problems within the team was his job.  
"Sasuke, there is a slight problem. I would prefer you find this out much later, after you've recovered more. But you'd better hear it now, instead of walking down the street."  
Kakashi sat at the foot of the bed on the left side, and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, his hands dangling. He turned his head so he could look at Sasuke. His eye, normally looking lazy and a little dazed, was now alert, piercing like a dagger. Sasuke nodded at him, his own eyes never leaving his sensei's single visible eye.  
"Two weeks ago, a mob attacked Naruto. I don't know how they got it, but they bore with them a piece of paper bearing the signatures of two- thirds the population of Kohona."  
Sasuke blinked, his mouth falling open as his mind made the connections of what Kakashi was saying.  
"But...the only thing they would need two-thirds for would be..."  
"Yes Sasuke. Naruto has been legally banished from this village. His forehead protector had the village symbol filed off of it."  
Sasuke looked at Tsunade and Gai for confirmation. Tsunade nodded, as did Gai. Sasuke didn't know why, but Gai's attitude, his acting so out of character, was what drove the point home. Sasuke's head fell back onto the pillow, and he ground his teeth together in anger.  
"God...What fools did this? And WHY? He did nothing to them!"  
For a moment, Sasuke simply lay there, grinding his teeth together. Then he opened his eyes, and focused on Tsunade.  
"What happened to that idiot? Where is he now?"  
He was obviously afraid she would say 'the graveyard', but was immensely relieved when she spoke.  
"We don't know. Thanks to Gai's efforts, Naruto managed to make it to the river and escape. We haven't found any sign of him since then."  
Sasuke was more relived than he cared to admit. Tsunade seemed to read his thoughts when she asked her next question.  
"Why so much concern for Naruto, Sasuke? Could it be he's become a friend?"  
Sasuke glared at her.  
"Not a friend. I respect him. He's saved my life too many times for me not to respect him. To not think...of him as a...rival..."  
At this point, Sasuke finally passed into the realm of sleep, his head falling to one side. Kakashi studied Sasuke's face as the boy's breathing rhythm fell into that of a sleeping person, and the muscles in his face relaxed.  
(Sakura would probably kill to see Sasuke this way...)  
"We need to talk."  
Kakashi looked up at Tsunade and met her piercing gaze. He nodded, then stood and walked out of the room, so as not to disturb Sasuke, Gai and Tsunade following.  
  
-------------------------------------- ---  
  
Gaara punched. He then drew his arm back and made a kick high enough into the air that it would've reached an opponents head. At least if the opponent was of a size with Gaara.  
Gaara brought his leg back down, then performed a high snap kick, followed by a low sweep with the same leg. He went into a spin kick, aiming high and bringing the heel of his foot down on the opponent's solar plexus.  
Once Gaara's foot had connected with the ground, he looked over toward Naruto, who had watched with a critical eye.  
"Not bad. You've got the general idea. Do the katas several more times, get your body used to the motions. Then try mixing the katas. Get instincts about what moves will work best, where."  
Gaara nodded, but instead of beginning the katas right away, he sat down on a nearby rock. For a moment, he simply studied Naruto, then started to speak.  
"Channeling a demon's chakra isn't like channeling human's chakra. Human's chakra is calm and cool, easy to control with a little practice. A demon's chakra is the exact opposite. It's violent and hot, burning away the weakness in your body. Think of it like a smelter. It melts down raw ore, then heats to a temperature where all the impurities evaporate, leaving behind pure metals, which can then be combined, through your actions, into a much stronger alloy. In other words, simply channeling a demon's chakra for a long period of time will put you on a whole new physical level. But controlling a demon's chakra is the real challenge. Otherwise, you run the risk of burning yourself to a crisp. Lose control of the chakra you've drawn in, and the demon starts to influence you, and you start to draw in more and more chakra, which is uncontrolled."  
Naruto remembered several times in the past where he had channeled the Kyubi's chakra. When he thought about it, it was a miracle he was still alive. He remembered the time when he was fighting Haku, and he blacked out. When he came too, Haku's demon ice mirrors had been shattered, and Haku was asking Naruto to kill him. There had been other instances where he simply seemed to lose control. Each one linked to channeling Kyubi's mountain of chakra.  
"Naruto, I assume you've done the chakra control exercise of walking up a tree?"  
Naruto looked at Gaara with a 'do you think I'm stupid' expression, while Gaara looked back with 'do you really want an answer to that question'.  
"I want you to do that, but with your 'unique' chakra. Get up and down a tree three times without touching the ground. Once you're done, do it again."  
Naruto nodded, and walked over to the tallest tree in their little clearing, while Gaara walked into the center of the clearing. As Naruto assumed his favorite concentration stance, hands clasped together, index and middle finger extended, feet together, Gaara assumed the basic taijutsu stance, legs a little more than shoulder width apart, knees bent slightly, weight distributed evenly, left arm extended, elbow bent at a 135 degree angle, right arm retracted slightly, down at his waist, elbow bent at a 90 degree angle.  
Gaara started the basic kata, throwing punches and kicks slowly, spinning around into a roundhouse kick occasionally. The moves were awkward, but Gaara wasn't deterred. He finished one kata, re-assumed the stance, and performed the second kata.  
Naruto, meanwhile, was having trouble simply gathering the Kyubi's chakra. Whenever he had tapped it before, he had been under a lot of stress, and had reached for the power, and dragged it out on instinct. Now, Naruto was trying to use the chakra at will and not on instinct. Sweat beaded his brow slightly as he searched his inner coils for Kyubi's chakra.  
To Naruto's inner eye, he was surrounded by swirls of blue, calm and cool, like water moving about on a windy day. He 'dove' down into the chakra, feeling it brush along him, energizing his body somewhat. But he didn't find what he was looking for, so he dove deeper. After what seemed to be about an hour, he caught a glimmer of red in the corner of his 'eye', and swam toward it. Soon the red took up his entire vision, taking on an orb shape. Naruto had found the Kyubi's chakra, but now he had to figure out how to draw it out of its prison...  
Naruto remembered the spiral that had appeared on his navel each and every time he channeled any kind of chakra. That was the seal placed upon the demon, as well as the principle of the Rasengan. Like a black hole, you just drew power down a spiral, compressing it. Naruto would have to see about any other moves based on the spiral later on, but for now he had to find a way to draw the chakra out. He looked around and spotted something odd. He swam closer to inspect it.  
It looked like someone had come down here and dug out a tunnel in the chakra. For a moment, Naruto studied it. Then he suddenly realized what it was, and he followed it with is eyes. It went down and connected to the red spot of chakra, and extended far into the 'sky', Naruto spinning around slowly to follow it. No doubt about it, it was the spiral. Naruto grinned in triumph and glanced down at the red orb.  
And gave a mental yelp and shot upward, to near the top of the spiral.  
The orb had changed shape slightly, forming two eyes, a short muzzle, and an open mouth filled with teeth the length of Naruto's forearm. Kyubi was glaring at Naruto.  
For a moment, Naruto's heart beat fast, and he came close to breaking the meditation. After a moment, the fear passed, and Naruto 'spoke'.  
"Oi, fox, I'll start collecting on the rent more often from now on. You got a problem with that?"  
"Damned twit, I'm sealed inside the body of an un-worthy idiot. Now why would I have a problem?"  
Naruto could practically feel the sarcasm. He shrugged, and reached down, into the spiral tunnel, extending his arm until it rested just above the orb that was the Kyubi's chakra. He glanced at the Kyubi, silently asking the demon for permission, when the face, which was still glaring at Naruto bobbed in what was unmistakably a nod.  
Naruto grasped the chakra, and pulled it upward, through the spiral.  
  
Gaara threw a two-punch combo, a right hook followed by a left straight, when he suddenly felt Naruto's chakra explode. He turned to watch Naruto, who now had red swirls of chakra surrounding his body. For a moment Naruto stood there, bringing the chakra into a semblance of control. He then drew a kunai, and ran for the tree, the red chakra gathered into his feet. He reached the base of the tree, and lifted his foot, placing it against the trunk, lifting his other foot...  
...as his first foot sank into the tree up to his knee.  
Gaara grinned slightly as Naruto gave a surprised yelp, and tumbled to the ground. Gaara went back to his katas as Naruto pulled his leg from the tree, walked back, Kyubi's chakra still whirling about him, and tried again.  
  
:Author's Note:  
Well, that is a good stopping point, I think. Hopefully I cleared up some questions, but hopefully I also left some to be cleared in future chapters. Till those chapters then. 


	3. Chapter 2: Manhunts and Missions

Chapter 2: Manhunts and Missions.  
  
Naruto collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily, and then rolled to the side. A tree trunk, nearly ten feet in diameter, crashed down on the spot Naruto had been a moment before. Naruto eyed the felled tree hatefully, and then clambered back to his feet, using the trunk to help him up. For a moment, he leaned against the trunk, then pushed off and stood on unsteady legs. As Naruto looked around, he realized how exhausted he was, as well as how much damage he was doing to the clearing.  
After the first hour, Naruto had lost track of time. And after the third tree nearly fell on him, he lost count of those too. Now looking around, he took stock of how many trees littered the ground.  
(12...I've taken down 12 trees simply by doing a chakra control exercise...Damn it...)  
Naruto looked around again, and realized with a start that night had fallen. Naruto suddenly felt as if a hundred eyes were looking at the small of his back. And for all he knew, there were.  
Naruto released the Kyubi's chakra and trotted over to Gaara, who was still in the same spot, practicing katas.  
"Hey Gaara, we'd better move. We'll pick up where we left off tomorrow. If I can even move that is."  
Gaara looked at Naruto out of the corner of his eye and nodded, coming out of the kata stance. Gaara then crouched down, preparing himself for a leap up to the treetops above. Naruto reached out and grabbed his shoulder. When Gaara looked at him, Naruto spoke.  
"Don't bother. I've got a much better mode of transport..."  
Naruto walked forward a few steps so that he stood in front of Gaara, checked his watch, then assumed his favorite meditation stance and concentrated on the Kyubi's chakra. Naruto quested about for a moment in his mind before finding the Kyubi's chakra. He then began to draw it out, and felt the familiar burning sensation spread from his navel to the rest of his body slowly. As he drew forth more chakra, the burning intensified and spread out to the rest of his body at a more rapid pace. Naruto felt his tired body protest loudly as it was forced to make room for the huge chakra, his muscles bulging a little here, growing a little longer there...  
Naruto felt his most easily manipulated body structures change as the chakra reached them. His fingernails grew longer and pointed, while his canine teeth became much more pronounced. His eyes burned for a moment, as did the markings on his face, and Naruto realized that his eyes were now a blood red with slited pupils, and the whisker marks on his face grew much more pronounced and darker.  
Naruto felt the Kyubi's chakra finally finish burning through him, and felt he had enough. He opened his eyes, and glanced at his watch to see how long it had taken him.  
(9 minutes. Crap. That took way too long...)  
Naruto decided to worry about the time it took to draw on Kyubi's chakra later, and worry about getting him and Gaara out of there now. His skin was crawling with the feeling of eyes on him.  
Naruto bit his thumb, and then went through a series of seals, before slamming his hand down onto the ground.  
"SUMMONING NO JUTSU!!"  
Gaara's eyes widened, and he got ready to leap away. But there was a sudden explosion of smoke and Gaara felt himself raised into the air by about forty feet. When the smoke cleared Gaara saw that he was standing on what appeared to by a small plain of blue fabric. For a moment nothing happened. Then it felt like an earthquake occurred.  
"WHAT THE HELL? WHO SUMMONED ME HERE?"  
Gaara came close to covering his ears as the voice washed over him. He doubted that the speaker was trying to be that loud; it was just that they were. Gaara glanced at Naruto as he shouted back.  
"Oi, Gama-Bunta, it's me, Naruto!!"  
"NARUTO? WHY THE HELL DID YOU SUMMON ME HERE? AND WHO'S THAT WITH YOU?"  
Gaara felt a small bit of dread flow into his system. The last time he had encountered Gama-Bunta was when he fully transformed, and let Sabaku out. Naruto had summoned the frog Gaara was now standing on, and proceeded to smack Gaara around. In the end, Gaara and Gama-Bunta hadn't parted on the best of terms.  
"It's Gaara, the guy I summoned you to help me beat. We-"  
"GAARA!! THE MEDIUM FOR SHUKAKU?! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN HIS COMPANY, AND WHAT IS HE DOING ON MY BACK?!?!"  
"YES, that Gaara! Now will you listen to me?! We need a ride to an area farther away, preferably to the south."  
Silence reigned for a moment. Then Gama-Bunta started shouting, and Gaara was forced to cover his ears lest he be made temporarily deaf. After a moment of shouting, Gaara also closed his eyes.  
"A RIDE?!?! YOU LITTLE PUNK, I DO NOT GIVE RIDES!!!!!"  
Naruto collapsed, hands over his own ears, and his eyes dazed. Gaara perfectly understood as he cracked one eye. Even with his ears covered, his eardrums were ringing violently. Gaara watched at Naruto climbed back to his feet somehow.  
"Oi, either you give us a ride, or missing nin hunters will find us, and kill us! And before you ask, neither of us left our villages willingly. We were both driven out."  
Naruto's voice trailed off into a dejected whisper, conveying how much that event still weighed on his mind. Gama-Bunta was silent for a moment. Then he spoke in that earth shaking voice he seemed to have.  
"ALLRIGHT. I'LL TAKE YOU SOUTH."  
Naruto brightened, then moved up to the point where the coat Gama- Bunta was wearing ended, and gathered some cool, non-demon chakra into his hands and feet, and got the best grip he could. He turned to look at Gaara.  
"Better hold on."  
Gaara hesitated for a moment, then came forward and did the same thing as Naruto. He looked at Naruto from the corner of his eye.  
"Why?"  
"Cause Gama-Bunta goes fast-"  
At this point, Gama-Bunta leapt nearly a hundred feet into the air, and about four hundred feet forward, and came down with a crash.  
"-and I haven't gotten seatbelts installed yet!!"  
  
-------------------------------------- ---  
  
To most, the sun was a glorious thing, bringing warmth and life to the planet. To others, the sun was nothing more than a nuisance in the morning.  
One such person currently had the sun shining in his eyes as he tried to sleep. He cracked an eye open and glared balefully at the sunlight, which was admitted by a cunningly placed window to shine directly in his eyes in the morning.  
He flopped over in his bed, closing his eye and returning to dreamland.  
(Wait a second...there's still light shining in my eyes...)  
He once again cracked an eyelid open and saw that a mirror had also been cunningly placed to reflect the sunlight into his eyes.  
(Damn bastard.)  
He momentarily hosted the idea of throwing a few shuriken at the mirror, shattering it and allowing him to return to sleep.  
He slipped his hand underneath his pillow where he kept an emergency supply of kunai and shuriken, and grabbed three of the throwing stars. He withdrew his arm, and drew it back, preparing to throw the metal stars with the precise pinpoint accuracy needed to turn the mirror into nothing more than little shards of useless glass.  
(This'll show you to...Huh? Why's the bed tilting?)  
He released the shuriken, which fell harmlessly to the floor, and made a mad scramble at the bed sheets with his hands, attempting to gain a grip to keep himself within the comfortable confines of the bed. He failed miserably and crashed down onto the floor with a not-so-soft 'Thump'.  
"Time to get up Kakashi."  
Gai watched as the silver haired jounin got one arm on the bed and used it to pull himself off the floor. Once his eye cleared the bed, he glared at Gai, who merely looked back, another serious expression on his face.  
"We have a problem. Sasuke's gone from the hospital."  
Kakashi groaned, and pulled himself into the bed once again.  
"You woke me up for that? Please Gai, have you even thought to check the training grounds yet?"  
"There are people checking the various training grounds now, but I thought I'd come and get you anyway, since he's your student. NOW GET UP!"  
Kakashi had just buried himself in the blankets again, and was about to fall asleep when Gai blurred forward and kicked the bed, expertly flipping the mattress into the air, and sending Kakashi into the wall. The mattress fell back onto the bed, complete with blankets and pillow, perfectly, speaking of long practice on Gai's part.  
The fact that there were several Kakashi shaped indentions around the room spoke of VERY long practice on Gai's part.  
Gai walked around the bed, and grabbed the dazed Kakashi, who had just slid down the wall, by the collar and dragged him into the bathroom. Gai tossed Kakashi, fully clothed, into the shower, and turned on the water as cold as it could get. He then walked out, ignoring Kakashi's cursing.  
Kakashi flailed about in the shower, vainly trying to escape the freezing water, before finally regaining the presence of mind to turn the water to hot. After a moment, the water was finally hot, and Kakashi stripped off his clothes and tossed them into the hamper. Or tried. The fact that the hamper was badly overflowing made the attempt mute.  
Ignoring the overflowing hamper, Kakashi went about soaping himself down and rinsing off, as well as shaving. Finally done, he climbed out of the shower and went to grab for a towel. When his questing hand encountered nothing, he glanced at the towel rack only to find it empty. (Oh yeah. The towels are all dirty too. One of these days I'll have to wash them...)  
Kakashi formed a hand seal, and was suddenly dry, his hair blasted upward from the jutsu. He walked out into his bedroom and opened his closet.  
"Hmm...Now what should I wear?"  
This question was made rather mute when the contents of the closet are examined, revealing a large collection of...  
...The standard jounin uniform, and nothing else.  
After getting dressed, Kakashi went into the kitchen, and grabbed a cup of coffee, then walked out the door, locking it and back flipping up to the roof without spilling his coffee. Once on the roof, Kakashi idly sipped his coffee and looked out over Kohana.  
(Hmm...Now if I were Sasuke, where would I train...?)  
  
-------------------------------------- ---  
  
Sakura sat in front of her mirror, running a brush through her short hair, her eyes gazing unseeing at her reflection, thinking about the past few weeks. With a sigh, Sakura put the brush down, and leaned her head against the mirror, feeling the cool glass surface. She closed her eyes, and an image flashed through her mind's eye of a young man, grinning broadly, with blue eyes, and blond hair.  
Sakura sighed.  
'Tap tap tap.'  
Sakura's eyes shot open and her head snapped to her bedroom window. Her mouth fell open as she realized who was outside her window, upside down. She stood and walked over to the window, undid the lock, and opened it.  
Sasuke crawled in without a word, and sank down onto the floor, panting, once he was fully inside. His right hand went up to clutch at his left shoulder, but Sakura didn't notice.  
"Sasuke, what are you doing here?! You're supposed to be in the hospital!!"  
Without giving Sasuke the chance to speak or protest, Sakura wrapped her arms around him and pulled him to his feet. She then marched him rather forcibly to the nearest piece of furniture, which happened to be her bed, and forced him to sit upon it. She placed her hand on his chest and pushed him back so he leaned back against the pillows with a barely audible sigh. His right hand once again went to clutch at his left shoulder. Sakura took notice this time, and was about to reach out and grab his arm when there was a knock at her door.  
She gave a slight jump, and hurried over to the door, opening it just enough to see who was on the other side.  
Sakura's mother looked at her through the crack with concern filled eyes.  
"Sakura, what's all the noise about?"  
"Nothing mom."  
Sakura's mother nodded. But before Sakura could shut the door, her mother stood up on tiptoe to see over Sakura's head. She sank back down to her original height with a knowing smile on her face.  
"Yes, nothing Sakura, nothing at all."  
Sakura's mother then turned away from the door, and walked down the hall, as Sakura closed the door, slightly confused. That is, until she turned around and remembered that her bed was directly across from the door, in easy sight. And the fact that Sasuke was currently leaning back on her bed, panting slightly with his eyes closed...  
Sakura felt herself blush. She then remembered how Sasuke was holding his shoulder, and she moved over to behind him, grabbed his arm, and gently lifted it away. She then grabbed the collar of his shirt and lifted it up, revealing his shoulder.  
Sakura gasped at what she saw.  
Sasuke's curse seal was glowing and slowly spinning in a clockwise direction. (It's active...but why isn't it spreading?) She then took notice of the two seals surrounding the curse seal. She would've bent down to examine them more closely, but Sasuke slapped her hands away, and sat up, clutching his shoulder again. His face gave an annoyed, and pain filled, grimace, before settling into its usual poker face.  
Sakura walked over to her desk, and turned the chair around, studying Sasuke as she brought it over and placed it near the bed, and sat down.  
"What are you doing here Sasuke? You're supposed to be in the hospital healing."  
"I woke up and left. I have better things to do than lay around in a hospital bed."  
Sakura leaned forward, worry creasing her brow as she supporter her chin in her hands.  
"Like training?"  
Sasuke merely nodded, leaning back against the wall. His body still wasn't recovered, and he was in a rather large amount of pain from his journey from the hospital. And his shoulder was burning fiercely.  
"So why come here?"  
Sasuke opened his eyes, and looked at Sakura.  
"To get you to come train with me."  
Sakura's eyes widened with shock, and she gasped.  
"Wha...why?"  
"I'm going after Naruto."  
Sakura's mouth closed with a snap, her head coming out of her hands.  
"And I want you to come with me. While your combat skills aren't equal to his, or mine, you're the smartest of the three of us. You'll be able to predict his every move."  
Sakura simply stared at Sasuke for a moment, letting the idea flow through her. They COULD go after him, find him, and bring him home.  
And by law he'd be killed the moment he set a foot over the border of the Fire Country. And they'd be labeled Missing Nins for leaving.  
Sakura felt herself slump down, the sudden feeling of hope she felt leaving her rapidly. She reached out and grasped Sasuke's left hand, and raised her head, looking him in the eye.  
"Sasuke...No. We can't. We'd be labeled as Missing Nins, and Naruto would be killed the moment he's discovered. He's been legally banished. There's nothing we can do."  
Sasuke merely stared at her for a moment. He then calmly removed his right hand from his shoulder, and swung it into the wall, cracking the plaster and making Sakura jump.  
"I. Don't. Care."  
  
-------------------------------------- ---  
  
Kakashi strolled along, idly sipping his coffee through his mask, heading for Sakura's. He suspected that's where Sasuke had gone, and even if he hadn't, one more person looking for Sasuke wouldn't hurt. And with Sakura's determination to find Sasuke, she'd be the perfect candidate for the search.  
Kakashi arrived at Sakura's house, and was about to enter her room through the open window when he heard Sasuke's voice. Kakashi stopped and settled in to listen.  
"They can do what they want with me. The news of me going to join Orochimaru will soon spread, and everyone will despise me. I might as well as have them despise me on my own terms. So, are you coming with me or not?"  
There was a healthy pause as Sakura considered. Kakashi heard the sound of a chair being pushed back.  
"I don't know Sasuke-kun...I want to help Naruto just as much as you. But what good will it do? We can't bring him back...In fact, we wouldn't be able to come back..."  
Kakashi decided to join in the conversation.  
"True. If you went about it your way, you wouldn't be able to return."  
Kakashi smirked slightly as he heard the gasps of surprise, as well as the commotion of his two students rushing to the window. A moment later Sakura and Sasuke stuck their heads out of the window. They looked around for a moment before they looked up and spotted Kakashi. He was sitting on the roof, his legs dangling over the side, reading the latest version of 'Come Come Paradise'. Kakashi raised his left hand, his right holding the book open, and his coffee on the roof beside him, and gave his customary greeting.  
"Sorry I'm late. I slept in a little, and had an incident with the shower."  
Sakura smiled lightly.  
"Liar."  
Kakashi didn't even bat an eyebrow at Sakura's usual reply to his excuses, even if that one was true. Instead, he hoped down, grabbing his coffee with his left hand, and landed lightly on the window sill as they backed up. He crouched down, coffee and book still in hand.  
"Sasuke. You're supposed to stay in the hospital. You would've been discharged later today for a mission briefing anyway. So, since you've already left, meet in Hokage-sama's office in two and a half hours. You too Sakura. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go stop the village wide man hunt for Sasuke. Later."  
Kakashi exploded into smoke, and Sasuke and Sakura glanced at each other.  
  
-------------------------------------- ---  
  
Naruto awoke with a pained yelp. He lay still, hoping that the fierce burning of his muscles would go away. After a minute, when the burning didn't go away, he slowly opened his eyes, and very slowly turned his head side to side to see where he was. Even that small movement made him cringe in pain as his neck muscles protested loudly.  
He was laying on a patch of thick grass, on the shore of a small lake, shaded by a few trees. When turning his head didn't really provide him with much information, he sat up with a series of pained grunts, and pops as his joints protested as well. Once he could see through the slight blur of pain, he gasped.  
The small lake was nestled next to a cliff of about 100 feet, with a cave at the bottom that five people abreast could fit into. Circling the lake was a line of dense trees and other foliage, and the ground was covered in thick grass, providing a natural padding to it. With the light that was filtering down into the clearing, the whole place had a mystical and beautiful cast to it.  
Gaara was farther down the shore of the lake, going through the katas again, determined to become as good as possible in a short amount of time. Gama-Bunta seemed to have disappeared. A moment later, Naruto realized that Gama-Bunta hadn't disappeared; he was simply doing what frog's do best; Swimming.  
Gama-Bunta's head broke the surface of the water, and he looked at Naruto with one yellow eye, before taking a deep breath and vanishing under the water's surface. For a moment, Naruto wondered why Gama-Bunta was still here. He then remembered what Gama-Bunta had done before Naruto had passed into sleep. Or passed out, that term seemed more appropriate.  
Last night, after an hour's travel, they had come across this clearing, and Gama-Bunta had stopped. When Naruto asked why, Gama-Bunta said that this place was perfectly suited to lying low for a while. Naruto, too tired to argue, merely slid off the toad's back, and fell asleep right after Gama-Bunta had performed a Genjutsu. The last thing Naruto remembered was Gama-Bunta saying that he and Gaara were safe so long as Gama-Bunta was present to hold the Genjutsu.  
Naruto once again glanced around the clearing before deciding that Gaara had the right idea. Naruto proceeded to stand, with another series of pained grunts and popping of joints, and walked over to a poor, innocent tree that Naruto was probably about to cut down by simply trying to walk up it. Naruto clasped his hands together, and summoned the Kyubi's chakra. He nearly screamed when he managed to bring it out of the seal, and it burned its way through him. (Ow ow ow ow ow ow...Damn it that burns...oh well. 'No pain, no gain'. Maybe Sakura was right, and I am a masochist...damn it.)  
  
-------------------------------------- ---  
  
Sasuke silently groaned as he rounded the last corner, bringing the Hokage's office into sight, Sakura walking next to him, eyeing him worriedly. Sasuke's whole body ached, and his shoulder burned, though it had died down to an acceptable level. As it was, he walked like nothing was wrong, hands in his pockets, and his poker face in place as he studied the group that had gathered outside the Hokage's office. The rather large group consisted of shinobis from the entire range of levels, jounin, chounin, and genin.  
All of the 'Rookie Nine' were present, with the obvious exception of Naruto, as well as their respective jounin leaders, even Kakashi. Sasuke blinked in surprise at this unexpected show of promptness from the jounin. Gai and his team were also present, Lee still supported by his crutch. Iruka was there, leaning against the wall and fidgeting. But the strangest person there was Jiraiya, who was standing next to the door and snoring softly. Sasuke eyed the old man with a mixture of respect and disdain before he had to grimace as someone latched onto his arm, sending a jolt of pain through him, quickly followed by annoyance. He looked down and saw a head of blond hair, while the female shinobi who possessed it had her arms wrapped around his right arm, and was snuggled as close as she could get to him.  
Sakura took one look at Ino and nearly lost it.  
"Ino, let go of Sasuke, you're hurting him! Now!!"  
The command and authority in Sakura's voice made Ino release Sasuke on instinct. For a moment, Ino blinked in surprise, and then turned to Sakura, anger in her eyes. Ino opened her mouth, but before any words could come out, the doors to the Hokage's office opened, and everyone filed in. Ino turned around to walk in with Sasuke, arm in arm, but he had already vanished into the room. But not before flashing a grateful look to Sakura over Ino's head.  
Sakura blushed at the look, and went into the room. Ino turned back around to see Sakura had also left before Ino also went into Hokage's office. The doors shut behind her.  
  
Tsunade barely waited for the doors to close and for Ino to find a seat before starting.  
"Before I fully start the mission briefing, I will notify you of the high danger of this mission. It is an A-class mission, and all of you that go will risk more than life and limb. Your very status as Shinobi will be risked. Even if you survive, you run the risk of never being Shinobi again. Now that you know that, if you do not wish to go on this mission, then leave now, and do not say a word of what you have heard here today."  
Unsurprisingly, quite a few people got up and left. Of those that were gennins and left, there was Sasuke, Sakura, Lee, and, surprisingly, Hinata and Neji. Shikamaru and Iruka also stayed, as did Kakashi, Gai, and Kurenai. Jiraiya didn't even shift from his position. Tsunade looked around at all of those who stayed, signifying that they would be going on the mission. Once the door clicked shut, she continued again.  
"Not as many as I had hoped, but more than I expected." She sighed, and raised her hands to steeple her fingers in front of her face. "This mission will have one objective only; to find, and give aid to, Naruto."  
  
-------------------------------------- ---  
  
Gaara back flipped, did a hand stand, and spun in a circle, left leg fully extend, while coming back up to his feet, and spinning around, switching to his right leg. He came to a stop, and threw a half dozen punches, before dropping down and doing a sweep, then bringing both hands down onto the ground, clasped together. He then slowly stood up, and whipped a fine sheen of sweat off of his face. He walked down to the lake, and cupped some water in his hand, and splashed that onto his face.  
He cupped his hands and filled them with water, this time to drink, when a sudden explosion off to his right caught his attention. His eyes widened as he saw Naruto fly back, and Gaara rushed forward, covering the distance as fast as he could, and diving under Naruto just in time to break the other boy's fall. Naruto lay almost perfectly still atop him, twitching slightly, and Gaara eased him to the side, and gently laid Naruto on the ground. Once the dust had cleared, Gaara looked at the area Naruto had just...explosively vacated.  
Gaara blinked as he looked at what remained of a very large boulder. Over half of the rock had been blown apart, and what was left toppled over onto the ground and broke into smaller pieces. Either Naruto had been practicing some Jutsu, or he had used his remarkably thick head, as Gaara should know first hand how thick it was, to break the rock. Gaara believed it was the former as he glanced back down at Naruto.  
Gaara blinked in confusion as an odd feeling welled up inside him. His left hand went to his head and he grimaced in pain as he recalled anther event during the Chounin exams.  
  
Gaara sped toward the now collapsed Uchiha, his transformed arm extended, ready to crush the other boy. There was a sudden flicker of orange in his peripheral vision, and then Gaara felt something he hadn't felt before. Ever.  
A foot collided with his face, and time seemed to slow as his head was forcefully turned to his right, and then the rest of his body was forced to follow the path set for his head, and he flew away, landing on a branch. Gaara grabbed it with his transformed arm, and slowed his backward progress. His cheek...hurt.  
Once Gaara stopped sliding backward, he looked up at the fool who dared challenge Gaara's existence only to find himself looking on the coward from the hospital. Gaara switched his view to the pink haired girl, who was kneeling next to Uchiha, and looking at him with an unreadable emotion in her eyes.  
  
(It is concern.)  
  
Gaara's other hand flew to his head at the female sounding voice as another voice sounded in outrage.  
(CONCERN!?! Concern is not for us! KILL HIM! END HIS EXISTENCE!!! Give us his BLOOD!!!)  
For a while Gaara moaned behind his teeth, which were clenched and bared, as a battle of wills went on inside him. Madness raged in his head, demanding Naruto's blood, and Gaara's only saving grace was a small spot of order, of peace, one that had always been there. Gaara reached out to that small spot and grabbed hold of it, clinging desperately to the sanity it offered.  
Soon the other voice vanished, and Gaara breathed a sigh of relief, opening his eyes, and removing his hands from his head. He blinked when he saw Naruto looking up at him, blue eyes dulled with pain. Naruto only said one word, and it caused Gaara to chuckle weakly.  
"Ow."  
Gaara gently slipped his arms under Naruto and picked the boy up. He turned and carried him down to the lake shore, and slowly placed Naruto into the water. Naruto sighed as the cool water enveloped his body up to his neck, and he closed his eyes. He opened them again when he felt Gaara unzip his jacket, exposing Naruto's chest, and the several rocks embedded into it. Naruto grimaced in pain as Gaara set about pulling the rock fragments out.  
"What happened?"  
Naruto grimaced again as Gaara grabbed a particularly big rock piece before answering.  
"I was practicing one of the techniques taught to me by the pervert sannin when I sneezed. Someone must be talking about me."  
  
:Author's note: Another chapter done. Please let me know what you think in a review. Even those of you who've reviewed before, please review again. There's no greater feeling to an author than to have people appreciate his work. Oops...nearly forgot something. The inspiration for the scene where Kakashi wakes up came from the fic The Last Step, also in the Naruto section. 


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Forbidden Acts

Tsunade stood on a balcony adjacent to her office, looking out over the village that was hers to command and protect as dusk gave way to night. In the office behind her Jiraiya leaned against the wall, half hidden in shadow. He was staying so still that a person less experienced both with Jiraiya himself and as a shinobi would have thought that the sannin was asleep. Tsunade knew better.

"So, how do you think they're taking it?"

Jiraiya stirred at the question, the first time he had moved in nearly ten minutes, before replying.

"I'd say they're all feeling as if the light bulb's just turned on."

Tsunade nodded as she thought about the meeting that had occurred earlier that day, and the information revealed.

:Hokage's Office, earlier that day:

"This mission will have one objective only; to find, and give aid to, Naruto."

The reactions from Tsunade's statement varied. Some blinked in surprise, other's gasped, and still other's looked as if everything suddenly made sense.

Tsunade waited until everyone had once again calmed before continuing, saying, "Now, you will leave in one week's time."

She held up her hand to stop various protests so she could continue.

"I suggest you follow the river. Gai tells me that is how Naruto escaped. How far he followed the river is unknown, but I suspect he stayed within it's current for some time."

"Excuse me, Hokage. But isn't one week too long?"

All eyes shifted to Neji, who had spoken, before shifting back to Tsunade.

"True. If I had my way you'd all be leaving tonight. However, two of this company need more time to heal, and a week should be enough time for both Sasuke and Lee to be strong enough to travel."

Tsunade saw both Lee and Sasuke frown at that sentence, and she perfectly understood. To be told that you were holding back a mission was a serious blow to any shinobi's pride, and so much could happen in a week for shinobi that it was an unbelievably vital amount of time. In this mission particularly, a week could be disastrous. Akatsuki could find Naruto any moment and be half way across the continent in a week. Or Orochimaru could mobilize his entire village, hunt down Naruto, kill him, and return to the Hidden Sound without anyone noticing a thing in a week.

"Sasuke, Lee, I realize that being the cause of this missions delay is a strain on both of you, but you both need rest. Sasuke, your body is still recovering from both the curse seal and your fight with Naruto. Lee, you left the hospital soon after an operation that was a tremendous shock to your system and entered combat with a special jounin of the Sound. Not only that, but you opened one of the gates during that battle."

Lee shifted uncomfortably as all eyes turned to him in surprise. Gai stepped up behind Lee and placed a hand on his shoulder and gave a reassuring squeeze. Tsunade, seeing this, snapped off her next words furiously.

"Don't reassure him, Gai! I have little doubt about whose influence led Lee to leave the hospital early like he did, and he's incredibly fortunate to be able to use a crutch right now! Entering a high level shinobi battle so soon after a life threatening operation was unbelievably risky, but opening one of the gates during that battle was close to SUICIDE!"

Tsunade had moved to her feet, and was leaning forward, hands clasped into fists and pressed against her desk. With a visible effort, the fifth Hokage calmed herself and sat back down. She waited a moment to let her words sink in before continuing in a calmer voice.

"Sasuke, Lee, you two may be holding this mission back for a week right now, but a week's nothing compared to how much you would slow down your companions if you left now."

Both shinobi looked somewhat chastised. With a nod at them both, Tsunade finished speaking on the subject.

"Over this week, you two are to rest. Stay in bed the first few days. After that, you can walk around, but absolutely NO training, for either of you."

Both Sasuke and Lee blinked as Tsunade's expression suddenly became hard and angry.

"Make no mistake, that is an order. Disobey it, and you'll suffer the consequences."

The two shinobi's nodded once and Tsunade's expression softened somewhat.

"Alright then, back to the mission."

As everyone nodded, Tsunade's finely tuned senses caught the impatience and anxiety of two people hidden in a corner of her office, behind a screen. Well, hidden wasn't truly the word. Probably several of the stronger shinobi knew that the two were there. This was proved when Neji spoke up.

"One moment, Hokage. Before we continue, could you tell us who's behind the screen?"

Several of the other genin gasped and looked closely at the only screen in the office. Their attention switched back to Tsunade when she answered.

"I suppose so. These two will be accompanying you on your mission." She then called over her shoulder, "You can come out now."

The screen was shoved roughly to the side, revealing the two that had crouched behind it. They were both of an age, and in their teens, about sixteen or seventeen. They both bore a certain resemblance to each other, signifying a close blood relationship, possibly brother and sister, and they were both dressed in clothes suitable for the desert.

The young man of the two was somewhat heavy set with muscle, with dark red hair, and dark brown, nearly black eyes. He was of average height for someone his age, and was dressed in a gray shirt, and a gray brown pair of pants. The pants ended just short of the traditional pair of shinobi sandals. A mantle of light brown leather hung over his shoulders, and strapped to his back was a pair of odd bundles wrapped in bandages.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes as the boy looked quite familiar, but Sasuke couldn't place the face with a name so he considered the girl next.

She had blond hair, a shade or two lighter than Naruto's, drawn back into a single knot on the back of her head, and was dressed in a long sleeved robe, the color matching that of the boy's mantle. The robe was slit up both sides to the waist, revealing a pair of white canvas pants, which bunched slightly over her own pair of black sandals. Strapped to her back was a long, thin object that was also wrapped in bandages.

Her, Sasuke recognized immediately, and she revealed the identity of the boy as well.

"Temari and Kankuro, the older siblings of Gaara."

The two nodded with no small amount of apprehension at Sasuke's statement. For several seconds silence and tension filled the room as the two Sand nins, who were oddly missing their forehead protectors, studied, and were studied in turn, the Leaf nins.

Then the silence was broken when Tsunade said, "Now, before anyone asks what they're doing here, these two arrived earlier today and requested amnesty from their village. In exchange, they offered their services as shinobi, as well as some information about recent events in the Sand village." At this point Tsunade stood up from her chair, pushing it back and walking over to a map on the wall.

"It seems that the Sand has exiled Sabaku No Gaara. They tried to kill him, and were almost successful. However, Gaara, like Naruto, was able to escape and fell into a canyon with a river."

She paused as she studied the map.

"These two will accompany you in your search for Naruto."

Temari and Kankuro glanced at each other, frowning. They weren't here to search for Naruto. They were here to try to help Gaara.

It seemed that they weren't the only two with that thought as Iruka spoke up.

"Pardon me, Hokage. But why will they accompany us? I'm grateful for their help, but..."

He glanced at the two, distrust showing clearly in his eyes. Sand and Leaf may have been allies, but the Sand was part of the reason for Konoha's current situation of war recovery.

In response, Tsunade said, "This is the river Naruto fell into, and where." She took a chakra filled fingertip and touched a spot on the map. "And this is the river Gaara fell into, and where." She touched another spot on the map with another chakra filled fingertip.

Shikamaru spoke then, his voice rather troubled. "You're not serious..."

Tsunade didn't bother to respond verbally to his question, or the confusion she could feel coming from some of the other shinobi. Instead, she started to trace the rivers with her finger, leaving a glowing streak of chakra to mark the path that Tsunade followed. After a moment, it became clear what her point was as her fingertips drew closer and closer together, until finally, the two tips met where the two rivers intersected, about three hundred miles from Konoha.

Tsunade turned from the map to see realization in every face in the room. She moved back to her desk, speaking.

"Yes. It isn't certain that Naruto and Gaara have met, but it is extremely likely, especially with the connection those two share."

Everyone listening blinked in surprise. Comprehension dawned in the faces of the older shinobi present, while the younger shinobi glanced at each other, silently asking, (What connection?)

With a sigh to belie just how old she really was, Tsunade sank into the chair of the Hokage. She could feel every eye in the room on her, and the information she was about to reveal felt like an incredible weight on her shoulders.

"The connection Naruto and Gaara share is the one thing they truly have in common."

She opened her mouth to continue, but Iruka interrupted, his voice panicked.

"Hokage, you can't! It's forbidden!"

Tsunade fixed the chounin with an angry glare.

"Today's a day for doing forbidden things Iruka! It's forbidden to aid a missing nin, yet that's exactly what I'm planning, and that's exactly what you're here to do! Sarutobi forbid anyone to talk about what really happened to the Kyubi as a way to protect Naruto! I will not tarnish the old man's memory by endangering other shinobi by sending them after Naruto without the full knowledge of what they're getting themselves into!"

Tsunade stood up angrily, yelling right over Iruka's protests.

"The Akatsuki are after Naruto and Gaara, and the only one here who can truly handle them is Jiraiya, and even he can't take them all! Now with two demon vessels in the same area, you'll have to deal with at least four of the Akatsuki's strongest, which means Itachi!"

Iruka's mouth closed with a snap, and Tsunade fell back into her chair with a huff, both acutely aware of the rather choked silence coming from the younger shinobis present.

"Iruka, they deserve to know. True, it is Naruto's secret to tell, but we've lost the luxury of allowing him to tell it."

The young chounin hesitated before he nodded sadly to Tsunade's softly spoken words. Tsunade then spoke softly once again, filling the silence with the words that the village of Konoha had been forbidden to speak of for over ten years.

(I'm so sorry Naruto...)


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Reactions to the Truth.

:Konoha Hospital, Recovery Ward:

Hatake Kakashi was quite well known for being downright unshakable. It was, after all, a very valuable trait in a shinobi. Being able to keep your cool, no matter how dire the situation, was valuable indeed. It was also something Sasuke secretly envied and strived to achieve. It was, he had to admit, a skill that developed slowly, over a long period of time.

For instance, Zabuza had no trouble in reducing Sasuke to little more than a quivering little boy who was prepared to take his own life. After that, there was Orochimaru who had paralyzed Sasuke without so much as lifting a finger. Then there was Gaara, who had to goad Sasuke into attacking once the sand-nin's true nature was revealed. True, Sasuke reacted better with each encounter, recovered more quickly. That didn't make the instances less humiliating and didn't stop him from adding more determination to his drive to become more unshakable.

And yet, despite all of his determination, all of the things he had encountered that had shaken him in the past, none affected him more than what he had learned today. It was to the point that he actually felt some resentment for Tsunade at the fact that all it took was one sentence from her to shake him so deeply that even hours after she had spoken he still felt shock, was still feebly denying what she had said. But denials, no matter how strong, crumble when he knew, even on a barely conscious level, that what he had heard was the truth.

And Sasuke knew it on a very conscious level indeed.

Lying in a bed at the hospital, staring up at the ceiling above him, Sasuke felt both unbelievably stupid and helpless, two feelings he downright hated. How could he have been so blind not to see it, even with the sharingan? How could he have been so slow not to realize it, even though he was a genius?

How could he have been so weak to not see past his own jealousy and look at Naruto properly?

The door to the room opened and a pair of nurses walked in with tray's of food, effectively bringing Sasuke out of his stupor as his stomach gave a loud growl. There were a few quiet chuckles as Lee's stomach gave an answering, and quite a bit louder, growl. Quickly, both trays were given to their recipients, who attacked the food on them heartily while both women left, idly talking about another patient at the hospital.

For a short while Sasuke simply focused on eating, the mediocre food acting as a good distraction. But soon the meal that had been on the tray was gone and Sasuke found his thoughts returning to the missing member of Team 7. He blinked in surprise when Sakura picked up the tray, freeing Sasuke's knees from the annoying task of supporting the tray.

His eyes tracking the girl automatically as she took the tray to a nearby counter, Sasuke wondered about her reaction to the whole situation. Sakura had been noticeably subdued, despite the fact that Sasuke wasn't overly aware of the moods of everyone else wrapped up in his own thoughts as he was, but he could remember numerous times in the past when Sakura would grow quiet and introspective. Just before the Chuunin exam, for instance, Sakura had rarely spoken a word unless spoken too once they had been entered by Kakashi. Now, though Sasuke couldn't be sure, she hadn't spoken for hours on end despite a few attempts by the others in the room to engage her in conversation.

Thinking of the others in the room, Sasuke glanced around to see who was still present. Sakura, of course, sat at the left side of his bed, shoulders slumped. Kakashi sat in another chair, idly reading another copy of Come Come Paradise. The only movements the jounin had made were to turn the pages of the trash he called a book. In the only other bed in the room lay Lee, who was currently watching a chess match between Shikamaru and Gai. The latter was holding up surprisingly well against the former, and had not once shouted a thing about youth power.

Turning his attention away from those three to Kakashi, Sasuke wondered how to best phrase all of the questions he wanted to ask, as well as how to broach the subject at all. Finally, he simply settled for saying, "You knew," in a tone that was more than a little accusatory.

Kakashi didn't even look up from his book when he nodded and spoke.

"Almost all of the adult's knew."

Over at Lee's bed the focus was intently riveted on the chess match even while the three listened in.

Sakura looked up, her eyes focusing on Kakashi, and asked, "Why weren't we told before now? We're his teammates!"

Idly flipping a page in his book, Kakashi said, "Because we were forbidden to tell you. It was the third's biggest law, the one he enforced the hardest. Anyone who spoke of Naruto's guest was dealt with rather harshly."

"But we're still his teammates! We-"

Kakashi cut her off with a well placed, "And if you had known before you joined Team 7, would you have even considered being Naruto's teammate?"

Sakura slowly closed her mouth.

"We deserved the benefit of the doubt."

Kakashi's eyes came up to meet Sasuke's, leaving the book's words for the first time.

"Perhaps you did Sasuke, but the Third's choice has been more than justified over the years. Even with the law in place, the parents passed their hatred onto their children. Naruto's isolation couldn't have been more complete had we declared that he was a dangerous mass murderer."

Sasuke opened his mouth to reply and found that no sound came out. Slowly, grudgingly, he closed it, glaring at Kakashi because he was the only adult aside from Gai that was present.

"It may not help much, Sasuke, but the Third made the right choice."

All eyes turned to Shikamaru as he picked up a rook and placed it on the board.

"Knowing the truth about Naruto would've turned everyone instantly against him, millennia of prejudice blinding us all before we even looked at him. Yet, with the truth hidden, we could take him at face value a little. Get to know him."

Gai nodded sagely even when he picked up a pawn and moved it forward a space.

"Think, Sasuke. How has your opinion of Naruto changed, now that you know?"

Sasuke fell silent as he considered Shikamaru's question. Finally, he answered.

"I don't know."

Shikamaru looked up from the board, turning to face Sasuke.

"Exactly. You're shocked. You're confused. But you don't immediately hate him. That's because you know him. You know who he truly is, at the very core."

Kakashi closed his book and said, "And that's why the Third made his choice. He knew that in so doing, he gave Naruto hope. It was small, yes, Naruto may not have been aware of it, yes, but it was hope, and it was there."

"And it wasn't a waste."

Shikamaru had once again turned to the chess board. He moved a piece before looking at Gai and saying, "Checkmate."

Gai groaned while Shikamaru turned back to face Sasuke and Sakura.

"Naruto is my friend. He's loud, stupid, annoying, and very, very troublesome, but he is still my friend. Knowing about his tenant just means I know something more about his past than I did before."

Lee, who had picked up one of the chess pieces and was idly turning it over in his hands, spoke for the first time.

"I…respect him. He's an ally, a fellow Leaf Shinobi. Besides, being…what he is, Naruto simply has a gift and a curse."

Looking up to lock eyes with Sasuke, Lee continued.

"Like you."

For a moment, Sasuke didn't understand what Lee meant. He frowned, narrowing his eyes in thought, when he suddenly realized that he actually knew _exactly _what Lee meant. _A gift and a curse_.

The Kyubi. The Sharingan. Two sources of incredible power, two things neither could get rid of, and two things that isolated them from other, normal people. On missions that took Team 7 out of Konoha, Sasuke had noticed how some people would stare at him. What was in their eyes varied, but fear and hatred were the usual emotions he picked up. That was the curse of a bloodline limit. When he was in Konoha, the looks were mostly absent. But occasionally, he would see someone look at him with the prejudice born of the fear of a living weapon.

Satisfied for the moment, Sasuke nodded and settled back into the pillows. He was still somewhat confused, knew he still needed to come more to terms with what he had learned about Naruto, but for now, Sasuke was satisfied.

:Uzumaki Naruto's former apartment:

Hyuga Hinata blushed as she sat, curled into a ball on Naruto's couch, amazed at her own boldness.

After all, it wasn't everyday that the Hyuga heiress broke into someone's apartment.

She fidgeted slightly, starting at every small sound that her straining ears caught. Feeling more like a frightened deer ready to bolt for the slightest reason than a girl, Hinata attempted to calm her nerves. It was in vain, however. Despite the knowledge that it was highly unlikely anyone would come into Naruto's apartment and discover her, the fact that she _had _broken in turned the normally shy and timid girl into a nervous wreck.

But even so, she stayed.

Hinata didn't know how long she planned on staying. Momentarily she considered staying the night, but the thought fled almost as soon as it had formed. Only God knew what would happen if she showed that much boldness.

"So this was your destination."

See? She had tempted fate too much already and gotten caught.

Hinata hit the floor with a soft thump after a foolish attempt to claw her way through the air and out the ceiling, a strangled and high pitched squeak, the poor girl's version of a terrified shriek, the only sound she made in response to the male voice behind her. Images of being thrown in jail for the night only to be bailed out by her enraged father flashed through Hinata's mind as she turned around. The images died a quick, painless death as they were replaced by even more horrible imaginings when Hinata saw her cousin, Neji, standing in the doorway that led to Naruto's bedroom.

Apparently the Hyuga prodigy had gained access to the apartment through the same window Hinata had, after following her from the briefing. Instantly, images once again flashed through her mind, this time of her cousin dragging her before her father and telling the Hyuga Clan Head everything that was going on. Hiashi's enraged face loomed in her mind's eye for a moment before Neji crossed the room, gently grasped her arm, and pulled her to her feet. He then gently pushed her onto the couch she had vacated a few seconds before.

Her father's face vanished as quickly as a balloon pops when Neji sat on the couch beside her. Hinata was aware of how he sat perfectly straight, as if he were at a formal dinner instead of in the apartment of the most etiquette ignorant person in the village. A giggle almost escaped her as Hinata mentally pictured some of Naruto's knowledge and assumptions of etiquette.

Neji's eyes, however, were more than enough to kill any humor Hinata might have found thinking about Naruto.

Still, Hinata was in Naruto's apartment and was now on a mission to help the blond, even though the mission's party didn't leave for a week. Those two facts gave Hinata enough determination to meet Neji's intense stare without the slightest flinch, a fact that brought no small amount of pride to the former Hyuga Heiress.

The two sat in silence for a short while, Neji studying Hinata while she met his gaze evenly. Finally, Neji broke the silence.

"Why are you going on this mission?"

The question caused Hinata to turn away and look around the apartment once more before answering, her voice soft and quiet.

"I…don't know. I suspected that Naruto might…be involved with the mission, but…"

"You couldn't be sure. So why? Why stay in the room, accept the mission, and risk your status as a shinobi if all you had is a mere suspicion that Naruto is involved?"

Hinata still didn't turn to meet her cousin's gaze even though she could feel his eyes on her. Instead, she opted to once again search the room, hoping that there would be something within its confines that would give her the inspiration she needed to put what she felt now and when she had first been summoned for the meeting into words. Inspiration seemed a long time in coming, but once it did come, Hinata turned to her cousin and answered his question.

"Because it was fate."

Perhaps it was fate, or merely chance, but at that moment a shaft of moonlight shone through the window directly onto Hinata's face. It cast her entire expression in silver, highlighting her violet hair and eyebrows and, most importantly, it gave her own white on white eyes a glow. Neji almost drew back when he found himself facing her utter determination and resolve, all of it cast with a silvery aura that made Neji think, for just a moment, that an angel sat before him instead of his cousin.

Then the moment was broken when the moonlight faded for whatever reason. Still, it didn't take away the feeling of utter certainty within Neji that Fate did indeed guide Hinata's decision to go on this mission, and that the mission itself was Fate's very decree. Feeling humbled, Neji stood before bowing to Hinata, his back perfectly straight as he all but folded at the waist.

"If Fate has willed such a thing to be, then who am I to fight against it? Hyuga Hinata, please allow me the honor of accompanying and protecting you upon this mission, fulfilling my duty as a member of the branch house."

Hinata, to her credit, didn't blush or stammer. All she did was reach out, grasp Neji's shoulder, and then nod at him once he looked up.

:Room 328 of The Leaf's Breeze, one of Konoha's Hotels:

Temari, older sister to both Kankuro and Sabaku-no Gaara, gripped the sink in a white knuckle grip, her shoulders hunched as she stared into the mirror placed directly above the sink. Her pale face and wide, almost frightened eyes gazed back at her, her normally light blond hair several shades darker as it hung, damp with the water from her shower. Steam from said shower condensed on the mirror, hiding her reflection again.

The former Sand kunoichi almost reached out and wiped the mirror off, so she could once again see her reflection, but stopped the urge. She knew her face would still be pale, her eyes still wide with what she told herself wasn't fear. But no matter how many times she told herself that she wasn't afraid, that what she was feeling was fear for Gaara's safety, Temari couldn't quiet the corner of her mind that was telling her the truth.

She was absolutely terrified, and was close to losing control and being reduced to a quivering mass of sobbing, incoherent flesh because of it.

_Traitor_.

The word flashed through her mind, making her see enemies where there were only simple shadows, assassins where there were only children playing, and carefully concocted plots to lead to the death of both her and Kankuro where there was only simple coincidence.

_Traitor_.

Temari pressed a hand against her bare stomach as she felt it lurch, battling with her body's almost frantic urge to throw up. Feeling her legs slowly give out, Temari let herself drop to the floor. Her eyes screwed shut and her teeth clenched, ineffectively holding in a low, long moan.

_Traitor._

Slowly, she started to shiver. Her eyes snapped open as her skin crawled, imaginary eyes gazing at her from everywhere. Her head snapped to the left and right, eyes darting about to spot the enemy who was looking at her while her arms automatically attempted to cover her bare body.

Knock Knock!

With a full body twitch, Temari turned to face the door, the spell broken.

"Temari? You okay in there?"

A shuddering breath left her as Temari recognized Kankuro's voice. She called back, glad to find her voice steady.

"I'm fine Kankuro."

There was no answering call, but Temari sensed her brother hesitate for a moment before walking away from the floor. Relieved that Kankuro wasn't about to break down the door and rescue her from imagined enemies, Temari took stock of why goose pimples were standing out on her skin and why she was shivering. She realized the reason for that instantly.

She was naked, wet from a shower that had happened long enough ago for the water droplets on her to go cold, and she was sitting on a cold tile floor which was probably leaving marks on her rear. With a slight grunt, Temari stood up and grabbed one of the towels in the bathroom and began to towel off. Once she was dry, she wrapped the towel around herself, made sure it was adequately covering her body, then exited the bathroom and walked toward her room where her belongings waited. Entering her room, Temari caught a glimpse of Kankuro entering the bathroom, a towel in one hand.

Closing the door behind her, Temari let the towel drop onto the floor as she walked over to the bed, where she had laid out a change of clothes. She had just grabbed her shirt to pull it on when some of the panic from earlier came back. She stiffened for a moment before throwing her shirt across the room toward a small patch of shadow and grabbing one of the kunai that lay beside her clothes on the bed.

The shirt fell to the floor with a slight thump, revealing that the shadowy corner didn't hold an enemy hiding themselves with some sort of jutsu, Temari let out a sigh of relief that caught in her throat when she caught movement in the corner of her eye. Turning sharply to face the movement, Temari found herself glaring at the window of her room, the curtains drawn across the window to block out prying eyes.

Her fatigued mind creating an enemy that was slowly opening the window from the outside, disturbing the curtains just enough for her to notice, Temari leapt across the room. Hurriedly, to catch the enemy shinobi before his surprise at being discovered wore off, Temari tore the curtains aside, ripped open the window and stuck her head out, glancing around wildly to spot anyone sticking to the wall with chakra.

All she got for her efforts to preserve her own life were a few wolf whistles from directly across the street. With a blink of surprise, Temari glanced across the street to find a small group of men standing on a balcony, playing some sort of card game in the cool evening air. All of them had their heads turned toward her and were giving her a few catcalls and suggestive comments that made her blush and gape at them in surprise.

_Why in the hell are they-_

With a start, Temari glanced down at herself and saw that she was still naked and half hanging out the window.

Now growling in anger, and flushed with embarrassment, Temari turned back to the men who were still giving her wolf whistles. At her glare, their enthusiasm died slightly. One of them, however, was somewhat bolder than the others and made a comment to Temari about how if he won the hand he'd trade the winnings he got for several services from her, not all of which sounded physically possible even for a kunoichi. The man shut up and dived for the floor of the balcony when the kunai Temari had been holding ripped one of the cards from his hand and pinned it to the card table, the point of the knife placed directly between the king's eyes.

While the rest of the men dived out of sight, Temari slammed the window shut and closed the curtains. She then turned on her heal and went about getting dressed.

Once she was dressed and her kunai were all secreted away in her clothes, Temari sat on the bed curled into a ball, one of the pillows from the bed clutched in her hands.

_This…Oh God, this is driving me crazy…_

Temari knew exactly what had her so stressed, and why. She and Kankuro had betrayed their village for the even slight chance of saving Gaara. They had turned their back on the Hidden Village of the Sand and left, leaving behind their forehead protectors and, for some reason she could no longer think of, a note clearly proclaiming their intentions. By now, she and Kankuro had most certainly been added to the missing nins list. They'd have bounty hunters, mercenaries, and hunter nins looking for her and Kankuro. And, though Temari knew that both she and Kankuro were both very powerful, there'd be ninjas out there now actively hunting her capable of tearing both her and her brother limb from limb with little effort.

The realization of that fact hadn't really hit her until earlier that day. What it meant had slowly become more and more prominent in her mind as the day went on, the end result being her current state. With a slight sob of fear, quickly muffled by burying her face into her pillow, Temari now considered the fact that she would soon be leaving this village, and what safety it could offer, to look for not one but two demon vessels. That meant she'd be dealing with four of the Akatsuki, a group that she had once heard her father speak of in a hushed, nearly terrified whisper.

With an effort, Temari tore her mind away from the morbid thoughts of what the members of Akatsuki would most likely do to her once she ran across them, Temari reached over and turned off the light in her room before laying down on the bed and trying to sleep. She knew, however, that sleep would be long in coming. The way she gripped the hilt of a kunai in each hand, and strained all of her senses to the limits told her that.

In the bathroom, Kankuro quickly wrapped a towel around his waist before going back to his room. On the way, he paused and glanced at the door to Temari's room, concern for his sister bringing him up short for a moment. With a sigh, he decided not to speak to her and entered his room.

The Hidden Sand's actions and Kankuro's and Temari's subsequent flight had shaken her, rendering her normally cool and calm persona riddled with holes where fears and doubts could, and had, taken hold. Kankuro knew the best course of action, as well as the healthiest, was to simply give Temari some space and let her recover on her own. 'Cause if he knew his sister, Kankuro was willing to bet a couple of hundred thousand yen that she was, at that moment, armed and ready to attack anything that even moved near her.

_Demon vessels…Is it just me, or do they drive everyone around them insane?_

With a shudder, Kankuro donned his pajamas and climbed into bed, knowing that he was in for a troubled, restless night. Before he fell asleep, Kankuro's last thought was about his younger brother and one Uzumaki Naruto, both of whom had eyes that seemed to scream at the world with pure, unequaled agony.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Of Pissing Contests and Secret Missions.

Gaara slowly moved through the kata, alternating his punches between his hands while his legs stayed planted. His green eyes glared through the vacant air before him, focused on something only he could see while the rest of the world was blocked out while he trained. Eventually, Gaara stopped punching and switched to another stance, arms held at the ready with his left leg before him. Slowly, with as much focus as he had shown with his punches, Gaara started kicking into the air with his leg. For nearly ten minutes, Gaara practiced his kicking before Naruto interrupted him mid kick.

"Hey Gaara, why the very basics today?"

Gaara slowly lowered his leg to the ground before turning to study Naruto. The blond haired boy had spent several days recovering from his training mishap. He had been able to move two days after the rock had blown up in his face, but Gama-Bunta had forbidden training for at least three days. Now, Naruto stood ten feet away from Gaara, barefoot, and without the top of his orange jumpsuit. Naruto still stood somewhat gingerly, his hands tucked into his pants pockets, but it was a vast improvement from earlier.

Gaara didn't answer immediately, instead merely standing and looking at Naruto.

"I've noticed some problems developing in my kata practices."

Naruto nodded at Gaara's answer before replying, with a small grin on his face.

"Well, how about a sparring partner for today?"

Gaara quirked an eyebrow, so Naruto continued.

"Other problems will develop if you only train on your own, and besides, I've been lazing about for too long."

Gaara gave a mental snort at Naruto's last statement before falling into a taijutsu stance facing Naruto. The blond haired boy grinned before removing his hands from his pockets and falling into his own stance, a mirror of Gaara's. Before they attacked, Naruto spoke.

"Oh, and Gaara? Two rules; taijutsu only, and no killing."

Gaara blinked slowly before nodding and the two rushed each other.

They met and Gaara was surprised at Naruto's sudden increase in speed and strength.

Gaara's first attack, a punch aimed at Naruto's chest, missed as the other boy twisted to the side, striking out with his own punch as he did so that caught Gaara smartly on the side of the head. The red haired demon's vessel stumbled slightly before spinning, showing his back to Naruto for an instant, while he struck out with his leg. Naruto ducked under the heal kick, and was forced to roll to the side when Gaara's fist came in low, aiming for Naruto's chin.

Gaara stepped back while Naruto did the same, the two of them falling into their stances once again before leaping forward.

This time Naruto struck first, kicking at Gaara's chin while the target leaned back, letting the kick pass harmlessly in front of him. While Naruto's leg was still in the air, Gaara reached out and caught the limb with both hands, before striking out with a sweep in an attempt to kick Naruto's other leg out from under him. It worked, to a degree. Naruto's leg was struck firmly, but he twisted at the waist, bringing his foot up in an attempt to strike Gaara's head. Gaara was forced to release Naruto's leg and duck, off balance. The two hit the ground and rolled, coming back to their feet.

Naruto attacked while Gaara retreated, giving ground while he dodged what blows he could, and blocked those he couldn't. Gaara's eyes suddenly widened when he saw an opening in Naruto's guard, and he struck, giving Naruto a light and fast punch to the face. The punch wasn't strong enough to do any damage, but it had the desired affect of distracting Naruto.

While the other boy stopped his attack in surprise, Gaara struck, giving Naruto a quick knee to the gut followed by an uppercut when the blond haired boy doubled over slightly. Naruto stumbled back, and blinked in surprise when Gaara struck again, aiming a roundhouse kick at Naruto's head.

Naruto's arms came up automatically in a guard and he grunted as Gaara's leg collided with his arms with enough force to shove Naruto somewhat. Naruto found himself struggling to keep his balance as he leaned back slightly involuntarily, his bare feet skidding in the grass.

Before Naruto or Gaara could recover and plan their next moves, a giant tongue suddenly wound around Naruto, lifting him effortlessly into the air.

"AND WHAT, EXACTLY, ARE YOU DOING, IDIOT?"

Naruto grinned sheepishly before replying.

"Just a little workout. Resting is alright I suppose, but I don't want to get too rusty."

Gama-Bunta merely grunted before lowering Naruto back to the ground, releasing the boy gently. Naruto grinned and stretched, reaching over his head with his arms while standing up on tiptoe. Naruto dropped out of his stretch, falling back onto his feet and winced as the sudden action sent a slight jolt of pain through his sore muscles.

Gama-Bunta, seeing the wince, commented on it.

"SEE? YOU'RE STILL RECOVERING YOU TWIT. TAKE IT EASY FOR A WHILE."

Naruto scowled slightly before his face lit up. Both Gama-Bunta and Gaara could practically see a light bulb appear over his head and turn on. Naruto looked up at Gama-Bunta and waved his arms excitedly while he shouted so he could be heard.

"Hey, Gama-Bunta, teach me some water jutsus!"

Gaara sighed and started to walk to the cave for a bit of rest while Gama-Bunta glared down at Naruto. As the cool dampness of the cave enveloped him Gaara tensed slightly as he felt Shukaku shift. The tanuki demon had been denied the bloodletting he so craved for some time now, and Gaara knew he was about to pay for it. With a determined step, Gaara picked up his pace and walked deeper into the cave, the voices of Naruto and Gama-Bunta fading behind him.

Eventually, Gaara came to a point in the cave where it was totally dark except for a pinprick of light that was admitted by the entrance of the cave, and even Gama-Bunta's voice was dropped to a low, unintelligible rumble. Here, Gaara stopped and allowed Shukaku's voice to wash over him, battling against the rush of rage and bloodlust that was the demon's madness, and, Gaara feared, his own.

Gama-Bunta stared down at Naruto as the yellow haired boy stared back at him defiantly.

"FOR THE LAST TIME, NO. THERE WILL BE NO MORE TRAINING FOR YOU TODAY."

Naruto scowled as he shouted back.

"I'm not going to actually try the spells today; I just want the hand seals! I'll perfect them later!"

Gama-Bunta shook his head and opened his mouth to reply when both he and Naruto felt an explosion of chakra from nearby. As one, they turned to face the cave near the waterfall. Naruto felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end as he unconsciously fell into a fighting stance facing the cave.

For a moment, confusion ruled as Naruto vainly tried to figure out if someone had found them or if it was something else. All confusion vanished, however, when a familiar sense of mindless bloodlust washed over him and Naruto took off in a sprint for the cave, ignoring Gama-Bunta's cries to stop.

Surprisingly, the toad boss didn't use his tongue to stop Naruto and as the blond shinobi passed out of range and into the cave, he made a mental note to bug Gama-Bunta about it later. Naruto thought, _If I survive, that is_, as the feeling of impending bloodshed increased.

Naruto's pace slowed so his eyes could adjust to the scant light in the cave, and he stretched an arm out to the side so he could follow the wall and continue moving forward. Soon he gave a shiver, from both the coolness of the cave as well as the feeling in the air.

Then came the noise.

It was a mix between a strangled groan and a moan. Naruto felt a shiver run down his spine as he could hear emotions in the sound, so strong he felt he could have cut them with a knife. The sound came again and Naruto almost flinched as the sound once again gave voice to madness, hate, and desperation. Naruto stopped walking when he could see Gaara. The other boy was on his knees, his left arm clutching at his head, while his right looked...different.

Normally, Gaara's arms were average sized, with smooth, pale skin, a rarity for someone from the desert. Now, Gaara's right arm was as big around as a tree trunk, with spines shooting out at various points, and his skin would've become a dark, sandy brown. Naruto couldn't see the color of the skin in the darkness of the cave, but having faced Gaara in a partially transformed state before, Naruto knew what to expect.

And as Gaara looked up, revealing a face that was half Gaara and half tanuki, Naruto knew that things had just become very, very bad.

"Get oUT!"

The voice was strangled and warped, as if Gaara was battling with some unseen foe for control. As the boy uncoiled from his curled position and lashed out with the transformed arm, Naruto realized that that was exactly what was happening.

Quickly stepping back, out of range of the large limb, Naruto watched as Gaara quickly gathered his legs to leap at Naruto. However, just as Gaara started to push against the ground, he fell over, as if the movement had been aborted halfway through.

Naruto, realizing he was far out of his depth on how to help Gaara, closed his eyes and, as he had done on a few rare occasions when under pressure, entered his mindscape.

When his eyes opened again, Naruto found himself in a hallway, standing in ankle deep water. Pipes lined the ceiling, and water dripped down occasionally with a small splash. Without a glance around in curiosity, as he usually would have done, Naruto took off running, homing in on the familiar feeling of nearly palpable malice.

After rounding a corner, Naruto found himself before the expected large gates, with a piece of paper affixed on them with the kanji for 'sealed'.

"Oi, damn fox, I need to talk to you!"

Something shifted in the darkness behind the gates, and Naruto could make out a large form moving about. Soon, two red eyes appeared, nearly twenty feet off the ground, looking down at Naruto with unconcealed rage and hate.

"AND WHAT DO YOU WANT, BOY?"

"Nothing but a little help, fur-ball."

The Kyubi's laughter rang out through the chamber, echoing off the walls.

Naruto scowled as he spoke again, quietly, with an edge of steel to his voice.

"Laugh all you want, ugly, it won't change the fact that you're gonna help me, and soon, unless you want to die at another demons hands."

Kyubi's laughter died, but there was still mirth in his voice as he responded.

"AND WHY SHOULD I HELP YOU? I GIVE YOU CHAKRA WHEN YOU REQUIRE IT, I SEE NO REASON I SHOULD GIVE YOU ANYTHING ELSE. AND AS FOR THAT FOOLISH RACOON, EVEN YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO HANDLE HIS PARTIALLY TRANSFORMED STATE."

"That's not good enough."

The Kyubi glared down at him as Naruto continued.

"I have a feeling this won't be the last time this happens, and I want to stop it. Permanently. Now, all you demons seem to recognize is strength. So, either help me out here, or forever become the under-fox to a wimpy tanuki."

Kyubi's growl was strong enough to shake the floor Naruto was standing on as a red aura appeared around the eyes, and the Kyubi's lips pulled away from his fangs in a snarl.

"KNOW THIS, BRAT, NO TANUKI WILL EVER RULE ME. I MAY NOT BE THE STRONGEST OF THE DEMONS, BUT THAT SAND RAT IS NOTHING WHEN COMPARED TO ME."

"Really? Then help me prove it. Tell me how to put such a bad scare into Shukaku that he'll never so much as whisper when I'm around. Otherwise there'll be three people who'll know that you couldn't stand up to a simple raccoon."

Kyubi once again growled, vibrating the floor as he glared at Naruto.

"VERY WELL. I SHALL GIVE YOU SOME CHAKRA, BUT IT IS YOU WHO MUST SHOW THE SAND RAT THAT YOU ARE SUPERIOR. ACCEPT HIS CHALLENGE AND BEAT HIM, AND HE SHALL NEVER CHALLENGE YOU AGAIN."

Tendrils of red chakra flowed from the gate, moving toward Naruto and wrapping around him. Naruto closed his eyes again.

When he opened them, he was back in the cave, and everything was exactly the same as if had been when Naruto had first entered his mindscape.

Gaara was struggling to rise, his transformed arm gripping the wall, leaving deep gouges in it, while his left had gone back to clutching his head, and he was once again on his knees. His entire body was shaking, as if under some exertion.

"Gaara."

The Shukaku vessel looked up at Naruto, the eye on the human half of his face squinted so much it almost appeared closed. Naruto was standing perfectly relaxed, arms at his sides, gazing back at Gaara

"Let Shukaku loose."

For a moment, Gaara stopped shaking and stared at Naruto incredulously. Then the Shukaku rose up in a wave of madness, and once again struck at Gaara in an attempt to take control. Gaara, distracted with Naruto's request, gave little resistance.

To Naruto, it looked like Gaara simply surged to his feet and leapt at him, transformed arm crooked back to give a single, crushing blow. However, as the Shukaku-possessed-Gaara flew through the air, releasing so much chakra that a wind was kicked up in the cave, something about Naruto triggered every single internal warning that the demon possessed.

But the bloodlust rose up once again, overriding every warning in the Shukaku's head as it drew back the transformed limb and prepared to crush Naruto and feast on the blood that would flow. Then the Shukaku landed on the ground and started to swing the arm forward.

Only to have Naruto step forward, right hand coming up with a rasengan moving toward the transformed half of Gaara's face.

The mass of swirling energy stopped less than an inch from Gaara's transformed eye, which was glowing a faint yellow to show the Shukaku's awareness.

Instantly, Gaara felt the raging Shukaku freeze as a technique that rivaled the only spell to ever do significant damage to his partially transformed body was less than an inch from taking Gaara's head off. Then Naruto started to speak.

"Apparently you didn't get the message the last time I fought you, Shukaku, so allow me to put it in words so there's no confusion: Never try to fight me again. You don't have the power."

His voice changed, becoming deeper, more guttural even as his eyes became darker and the rasengan started to change color.

"I'm a demon vessel as well, only my furry tenant could've kicked your ass any time he wished too before he was sealed."

Red swirls became evident in the rasengan, turning it into a light violet.

"Now, he's my own furry chakra power plant, meaning I've got all of his power, and none of his patience. Attempt to take over Gaara again, and I'll rip you apart, piece by transformed piece."

Now Naruto's eyes had become a dark, blood red with slitted pupils. Gaara, shocked to his very core, could feel the Shukaku's near absolute terror as it turned and fled deeper into the recesses of Gaara's mind. Gaara's knees buckled as he suddenly found himself back in control, and weighed down by the transformed arm, which was crumbling back into mere sand now that the chakra had left it.

Naruto yanked his rasengan away from Gaara as the other boy fell to his knees, panting. Naruto's first impulse was to check Gaara and make sure he was alright, but the rasengan caught his attention as Naruto realized what he had done.

And promptly started to jump around like the over energetic kid he was.

"Ha HA, who's the badass ninja now! Perfect rasengan baby! Faced down TWO demons in one day!"

Naruto placed one fist on his hip and held the rasengan above his head, like a hero would his sword.

"Just another story to add to the legend of Uzumaki Naruto!"

Then Naruto became aware of the shaking and burning of his right arm.

"Uh oh..."

Gaara, his entire body shaking with the aftershock of Shukaku's partial possession, forced himself to look up at those particularly foreboding words. If there had been any blood in his face, making it possibly for Gaara to actually go any paler, he would have paled at what he saw. Naruto's right arm was visibly shaking and he had grasped his arm by the wrist with the opposite hand in an attempt to maintain his control.

It wasn't working.

Slowly, swirls of pale violet chakra escaped the rasengan, gouging deep furrows into the cave walls where they struck the stone as they escaped Naruto's tenuous control. Gaara, remembering what the damage caused by an ordinary out of control rasengan, forced his shaking legs to propel him forward. Grabbing Naruto around the waist, Gaara sprinted as best he could toward the mouth of the cave, hoping to avoid a potentially lethal cave in.

The whoosh of air leaving Naruto's lungs from Gaara accidentally placing his shoulder rather forcibly in the other demon vessel's stomach heralded a stronger whoosh as energy began to escape the rasengan at an even greater rate. Muscles burning, air coming in short pants, Gaara forced his body to move faster. He was less than twenty feet from the cave opening when Naruto lost complete control over the rasengan and a swirling wall of pure chakra slammed into Gaara's back.

Oddly enough, the last thing Gaara saw before unconsciousness claimed him was the lake waters rushing up to meet him and Gama-Bunta's surprised face.

Gama-Bunta, who had been eyeing the cave warily ever since Naruto had disappeared into its depths, drew back in shock when there was an explosion within the cave and the two demon vessels suddenly flew into the air like a cork shot from a champagne bottle. Automatically turning to follow their trajectories, Gama-Bunta quickly swam out into the middle of the lake and fished them out before the two drowned. After depositing the two onto the bank, the giant frog tentatively extended his senses, and was greatly relieved to find a complete absence of demonic chakra or killing intent in the immediate area.

Breathing out a sight of relief, which created a gust of wind to bring slight whitecaps to the surface of the lake and make the leaves of all the trees in the area sway, Gama-Bunta settled in, trying to conserve both his stamina and chakra while he waited for the two to regain consciousness.

_Wake up soon, brat. I can't hold this genjutsu and keep myself anchored to this world forever._

:Author's Note:

I apologize profusely for the exceedingly long time since my last update. I'm working on correcting the little flaw in my character that makes these long periods between updates, and hope you all will bear with me for the time being without getting to mad or upset with me. On other important stuff, here are three chapters with the next one close to being done. Later.


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